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FRANKLIN AT THE PALAIS ROYALE. 

(See page 2.) 



THE 



RISE AND FALL 



OF 



LOUIS PHILIPPE, 

EX-KING OP THE FRENCH; 



GIVING A 



HISTORY OE THE ERENCH REVOLUTION, 

FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT, IN 1789, 



BY 

BEN: PERLEY POORE, 

LATE HISTORICAL AGENT OF THE STATE OP MASSACHUSETTS TO FRANCE, 
AND PARIS CORRESPONDENT OF THE BOSTON ATLAS. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 

HISTORICAL ENGRAVINGS, PORTRAITS. AND FAG-SIMILES. 



BOSTON: 

WILLIAM D. TICKNOR & COMPANY, 



MDCCCXLVIII. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 

By Ben : Perley Poore, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 






boston: 

THURSTON, TORRY, AND COMPANY, 

31 Devonshire Street. 



TABLE OP CONTENTS: 

INCLUDING, (in ITALICS,) OTHEE IMPORTANT EVENTS NOT MENTIONED IN. THIS WORK J 



THE WHOLE FORMING 



A CHRONOLOGY 



OF THE 



FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



1773, Oct. 6, Birth of Louis Philippe d'Orleans ... 2 

1789, May 5, Opening' of the States General at Versailles. 
June 17, JSstablishment of the National Assembly. 

July 12, First conflict between the populace and the troops 10 
" 14, Storming of the Bastille . . . . .11 

Oct. 1, Declaration of the Rights of Man in Society. 

" 6, The Royal family brought to Paris . . . 11 

Political intrigues 13 

Nov. 6, Institution of the Jacobin Club. 

1790, June 19, Suppression of Nobility . 
July 14, First National Federation. 

Sept. 10, Louis Philippe's anti-royalism .... 14 

Nov. 20, Louis Philippe admitted to the Ji-.cobin Club . 14 
Final difference between the King and the Duke of 

Orleans ... .... 15 

1791, Feb. 9, Louis Philippe and brothers join the National Guard 1 6 
April 20, Death of Mirabeau 18 

The War Spirit in France .... 19 

June 27, Louis Philippe rescues two priests from death . 21 
July 17, The unfurling of the red flag. 

Aug. 3, liouis Philippe saves a man from drowning . . 24 
Sept. 14j Louis XVI. swears to maintain the Constitution. 

1792, April 20, Declaration of war against Austria ... 26 

" 28, First hostilities and reverses in Belgium . . 27 

May 7, Louis Philippe brevetted brigadier-general . . 28 

Capture of Cambray and Courtnay ... 29 

June 29, The Parisian mob at the Tuileries ... 29 



JV 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



1792, July 25, 

" 29, 
Aug. 10, 

" 18, 

" 20, 

Sept. 21, 

" 30, 
Nov. 6, 

" 28, 
Dec. 

1793, Jan. 17, 
March 10, 

18, 
April 10, 
" 14, 
May 8, 
" 20, 
July 13, 
Aug. 29, 
Oct. 10, 
" 16, 
« 20, 
" 21, 
Dec, 4, 

1794, March 5, 
Juae 8, 

July 28, 

1795, June 8, 
Aug. 24, 
Oct. 28, 

Nov. 1, 

" 18, 

1796, May 10, 

Sept. 24, 
Nov. 15, 

1797, Jan. 15, 
June, 

Sept. 4, 

Oct. 21, 



Dec. 10, 

1798, Feb. 15, 

" 17, 



July 1, 
Dec. 18, 



War manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick . 31 

Enlistment of volunteers — La Marseillaise . . 32 
Sior mills- of the Tuilleries — Imprisonment of the 

Royal Family. 
Flight of Lafayette. 

Battle of Valmy .."... 37 

Opening of the National Convention — Abolition 

of Royalty. 
Prediction of Oanton to Louis Philippe . . 41 
Victory of Jemappes . . . . . 41 

Successes of Louis Philippe 44 

Debates in the National Convention ... 45 

Louis XVI. condemned to death .... 47 
Institution of the Revolutionary trihunaL 

Battle of Nerwinden 49 

Defection of Louis Philippe 50 

Imprisonment of the Duke of Orleans . . 51 

Louis Philippe in Switzerland .... 60 

Forced loan of 1000 millions imposed upon the rich. 

Marat assassinated by Charlotte Corday. 

Louis Philippe at the Monastery of St. Gothard 62 

Louis Philippe appointed Professor of Mathematics 63 

Marie Antoinette condemned and executed. 

Execution of the Girondins .... 54 

Execution of the Duke of Orleans ... 56 

Organization of the Revolutionary Government. 

Danton and his friends executed. 

Festival of the Supreme Being. 

Louis Philippe sets out on a journey northward 64 

Doionfall of Robespierre. 

Death of the Dauphin, son of Louis XVI. 

Louis Phihppe at the North Cape ... 68 

First meeting of the Councils of Ancients and of 

Five Hundred. 
Formation of the Directory. 

Louis Philippe in Sweden .... 71 

Attempted escape of Louis Philippe's brother . 75 

Battle of Lodi. 

Louis Philippe in Denmark .... 76 

Louis Philippe embarks at Hamburg for America 78 
The Princes of Orleans in Philadelphia . . 81 

Victory of Arcole. 

American tour of Louis Philippe and his brothers 84 
Battle of Rivoli. 
The Princes of Orleans return to Philadelphia for 

the West . 91 

Violent proceedings of the I8th of Fructidor. 
Louis Philippe and brothers journey to Boston . 93 
Major Russell's kindness to the exiles . . .94 
Talleyrand and the Princes of Orleans visit 

Maine 95 

Louis Philippe leaves Philadelphia for New 

Orleans ........ 97 

The French enter Rome — the French Republic 

proclaimed. 
The Princes of Orleans arrive at New Orleans . 100 
Louis Philippe's voyage to Cuba . . . .101 
Napoleon lands in Egypt. 
Treaty between England and Russia against 

France. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



1799, March 22, 
« 27, 



Nov. 9, 
Dec. 19, 

1800, Feb. 16, 

May, 
Dec. 24, 

1801, July 15, 



1802, 

August 2, 

1803, March 13, 
April 23, 

1804, Dec. 2, 

1805, Sept. 25, 
Dec. 2, 

1806, July 7, 

1807, Sep't. 
1808, 

1809, February, 
Nov. 26, 
Dec. 16, 

1810, April 2, 
May 7, 

" 21, 

Sept. 30, 

1811, March 20, 

1812, May 9, 

1814, April 11, 
May, 

1815, March 5, 

June 18, 

Oct. 13, 
1816, 

1821, May 5, 
1824, Sept. 6, 



1330, 

May, 
July 25, 

July 27, 
" 31, 

August 2, 

9, 

" 17, 

1830, Dec. 24, 



Napoleon takes Jaffa, in the Holy Land. 

Seizure of Pope Pius VI. xoho is carried to 
France. 

Louis Philippe and brothers sail from Cuba for 
Halifax 

Revolution of the \.8th Brumaire. 

Napoleon nominated First Consul. 

Louis Philippe lands in England . . ._ . 

Interview between Chailes'X. and Louis Philippe 

Napoleon crosses the great St. Bernard into Italy. 

Explosion of the Infernal Machine. 

Concordat between Napoleon and the Pope, fol- 
lowed by treaties between France and Naples, 
Bavaria, Batavia, Portugal, England, Russia, 
and the Porte. 

Louis Philippe visits Spain and is sent back to 
England 

Napoleon elected Consul for life by the French. 

France declares 7Dar against England. 

Manifesto of Louis Philippe in favor of the Bour- 
bons 

Napoleon crowned Emperor. 

The "Grand Arjny^' of invasion leave France. 

Battle of Austerlitz . 

Peace of Tilsit. 

Louis Philippe leaves England for Malta 

Louis Philippe's expedition to Spain 

Louis Philippe at Malta .... 

Marriage of Louis Philippe at Palermo 

Napoleon divorced from Josephine. 

Marriage of Napoleon to Marie Louise. 

Louis Philippe consents to serve against France 

Unsuccessful expedition of Louis Philippe to 
Spain 

Louis Philippe expelled from Spain 

Birth of Napoleon's son. 

Napoleon leaves Paris on his Russian campaign 

Abdication of Napoleon at Fontainbleau. 

Louis Philippe's return to France . 

Napoleon returns from Elba .... 

Louis Philippe retires to England — his intrigues 

Battle of Waterloo. 

Execution of Marshal Ney .... 

Napoleon arrives in St. Helena. 

Plottings of Louis Philippe against the throne 

Death of Napoleon at St. Helena. 

Accession of Charles X 

Favors granted by the Bourbons to Louis Philippe 

France under the reign of Charles X. . 

Ungrateful conduct of Louis Philippe . 

Charles X. at the Palais Royal 

The obnoxious Ordinances signed 

Partisans of Louis Philippe . 

Commencement of the " Three Days' Revolution 

Louis Philippe Lieutenant-General of France 

Charles X. abdicates in favor of his grandson 

Louis Philippe accepts the crown . 

Charles X. retires to England 

State Policy of Louis Philippe 

111 treatment of General Lafayette 



102 



102 
104 



105 



106 



108 
109 
110 
112 



113 

113 
114 



115 
117 

120 

123 

127 

130 
131 
137 
140 
141 
142 
144 
150 
165 
170 
180 
183 
185 
200 



■n. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



1832, 


March 13, 




May 29, 




June 5, 




July 22, 




Sept. 18, 
Oct 11, 




Nov. 19, 


1834, 
1835, 


May 20, 
March 14, 


1836, 


July 2, 
June 25, 




Sept. 7, 
Nov. 6, 




Dec. 27, 


1837, 




1838, 


June 28, 


1839, 


Jan. 2, 


1840, 


March 1, 




Aug:. 6, 




Oct. 15, 




" 29, 




Dec. 15, 


1841, 
1842, 


Sept. 13, 
July 13, 


1843, 


Aug. 20, 




« 28, 




Sept. 1, 


1844, 


Aug. 6, 




Oct. 7, 



1846, May 26, 

July 29, 
Sep't. 21, 

1847, January, 
May 15, 

Dec. 31, 

1848, January, 
Feb. 21, 

" 22, 

" 23, 



PAGE 

Cabinet of Casimer Perier nominated . . . 210 
Landing of the Duchess of Berri in France . . 212 

Insurrection in Paris 221 

Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, dies in 

Austria. 
Charles X. leaves Great Britain for the continent. 
Ministry of Marshal Soult. 

Attempt to assassinate Louis Philippe . . . 223 
Death of Lafayette ....... 223 

Ministry of the Duke de Broglie. 

Explosion of Fieschi's infernal machine . . 228 

Alibaud fires at Louis Philippe. 

Ministry of Count Mole. 

Charles X. dies at Goritz 230 

Meunier fires at the King-. 

The Princess Marie 231 

Coronation of Queen Victoria. 

Death of the Princess Marie . - . . . 232 

Thiers nominated Minister. 

Descent of Prince Louis Napoleon at Boulogne. 

Darmes fires at Louis Philippe. 

Guizot nominated Minister ..... 235 

The ashes of Napoleon deposited in the Hotel des 

Invalides. 
Attempt to assassinate the Duke of Aumale. 
Death of the Duke of Orleans, heir to the French 

throne 238 

Commencement of the Spanish intrigue . . 241 
The Duke of Nemours appointed Regent, " in 

fiduro." 
Narrow escape of the French Royal family . . 242 
Arrival of Queen Victoria in France . . . 243 

The French Court 248 

Louis Philippe's private life 251 

Tangiers captured by the Prince de Joinville. 
Louis Philippe lands in England .... 258 
Policy of the French government and the Opposi- 
tion 259 

Attempt of Le Compte to assassinate Louis 

Philippe 262 

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from im- 
prisonment. 
Joseph Henri fires on the King. 
Celebration of the Spanish Marriages. 
The commencement of the Session . . . 264 

Position of the French 268 

Speech of Lamartine at Macon .... 270 
Death of Louis Philippe's sister Adelaide . . 272 
Commencement of the Session .... 274 
The Reform Banquets prohibited .... 275 
Resignation of the Guizot Ministry . . . 282 
Commencement of the conflict .... 284 
Abdication of Louis Phi ippe .... 287 



Erratum.— Page 274, for 29th of Dec. 1847, read 27th of Dec. 1847. 



EISE AND FALL 



OF 



LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



RISE AND FALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



CHAPTER I, 



The Palais Royal is to Paris what that metropolis is to 
Christendom — the centre of its pleasures and its political 
intrigues ; nor is there, perhaps, another locality in the 
world, to which are attached so many and such varied 
associations. The spacious garden, with its surrounding 
colonnades, was long an arena for the free indulgence of 
every depravity which can stigmatize human nature — the 
stage upon which many a frightful interlude in the drama of 
revolution was enacted ; and it is yet a forum where the 
popular voice first sounds the tocsin of discontent At one 
extremity is the Palace itself, historically interesting to 
every one; for its ink-stained council tables have, for up- 
wards of two hundred years, served as a fulcrum upon 
which the pen — that great political lever — has moved the 
destinies, not only of the nations of Europe, but of the 
Western Continent. It was at the Palais Royal that Car- 
dinal Richelieu founded a company of an " Hundred Asso- 
ciates," for the purpose of planting a colony on the banks 
of the St. Lawrence, which was to extend its limits south- 
ward, and gradually exterminate the '' heretic English at 
Plymouth," and " the Dutch" at New York, that the lilies 
of France might alone wave over the new world. For one ' 
1 



RISE AND FALL 



hundred and thirty years, plan after plan was there laid to 
carry this cherished project of the French government into 
effect, ending with the mission of Baron de Kalb, a few 
years previous to the American Revolution, to ascertain 
whether the disaffected colonies could not be induced to 
change their allegiance, and come under the Bourbon rule. 
And there, after the declaration of independence, the Duke 
of Orleans received in state, (in the hall where Abenaquis 
and Iroquois chiefs had in times past paid homage,) the 
envoy of the United Colonies — Benjamin Franklin. A 
picture of the scene was painted for the historical gallery of 
the Palace, representing the host and hostess in the rich 
costume of the time, the sturdy ex-printer in his plain garb, 
and a young lad seated upon the floor, beating a toy drum. 
" Judging from that boy's present performance," said Frank- 
lin, "I prophesy that he is destined to make a noise in the 
world." When, after passing through great vicissitudes of 
fortune, the amateur drummer became King of the French, 
he frequently related this anecdote when Americans were 
presented at his court, and the picture was to them an object 
of great interest.* 

Louis Philippe d'Orleans was born at the Palais Royal on 
the 6th of October, 1773. He is the eldest son of Louis 
Philippe Joseph d'Orleans, then Duke of Chartres, (the 
third Duke of Orleans being alive,) who even surpassed in 
dissolute villany his ducal ancestors, t and of Marie, only 
daughter and heiress of the wealthy Duke of Penthievre. 
His sponsors at the baptismal font were the Dauphin, who 
was soon to call himself Louis XVI., and the unfortunate 
Marie Antoinette, who was that year described by Burke as 
*' decorating the elevated sphere she just began to move in, 
glittering like the morning star, full of life, and splendor, 
and joy." The Duke of Chartres professed the deepest 



* See Frontispiece. 

t The Hodse of Orleans. Note A. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. O 

gratitude to the Dauphin for this mark of royal favor ; yet 
twenty years had not elapsed ere he irrevocably sealed the 
fate of that martyr-prince, by walking to the tribune of the 
National Assembly, and declaring, " my vote is for death ! " 
He is portrayed as a well formed, portly man, his eye hag- 
gard with debauch, and his face covered with fiery erup- 
tions, the fruit of intemperance. When, by the death of his 
father, he became Duke of Orleans, his son, who had been 
baptized Duke of Valois, succeeded to the title of Duke of 
Chartres. 

Louis Philippe's first preceptor was a boon companion of 
his father's, the Chevalier de Bonnard, captain of the royal ar- 
tillery, whose sole aim (in accordance with his instructions) 
was to impart to his pupil graceful manners, the " code of 
honor," and the knowledge of fencing necessary to enforce 
its edicts, — barbarous remnants of chivalry. When he 
entered his eighth year, he had three brothers and a sister — 
the Duke of Valois, the Duke of Montpensier, the Count 
of Beaujolais, and the Princess Adelaide. 

The Duke of Orleans had some years previously selected, 
as maid of honor to the Duchess his wife, Madame de 
Genlis, now about thirty years of age; the period when a 
woman joins to the freshness and graces of youth all the ac- 
complishments acquired by intercourse with the world. Miss 
Burney, who saw her a few years afterwards, says, that " her 
face, without positive beauty, had the most winning agreea- 
bility ; her figure was remarkably elegant, her attire was 
chastely simple ; her air was reserved, and her demeanor 
was dignified." Yet, when breathing the voluptuous atmos- 
phere of the Palais Royal, her conduct was as immoral as 
her talents were superior, Mirabeau, in his life, accuses 
her of having granted him favors, and in her own memoirs 
she accuses herself of enjoying the intimacy of half a dozen 
other equally depraved men of the time. Brought up by 
the financier La Popeliniere, whose old age she had taken 
captive, she was an intriguante from her infancy, and su- 



4 RISE AND FALL 

peradded to all the weaknesses of her own sex, all the preten- 
sions of the other. One day, like the courtezans of ancient 
Greece, taking baths of milk covered with rose-leaves, 
the next dressed in masculine attire, carousing at the Por- 
cherons — following lectures on anatomy, and frequenting 
the dissecting rooms — writing both pious books and infa- 
mous novels — residing at the Palais Royal, despite of the 
Duchess of Orleans — her actions were a constant topic of 
scandal, and are recorded in the small gazettes of the time 
which circulated among the courtiers. Over the Duke of 
Orleans she exercised such unlimited influence, that he did 
nothing without asking her advice ; and she thus relates a 
conversation which passed between them, when he consulted 
her on the choice of a fit tutor for his children. 

" One evening the Duke called to see me, as was his 
custom, between eight and nine o'clock, and told me that 
there was no time to lose in procuring a tutor for his sons, 
for that, otherwise, his children would have the manners of 
shopmen. He consulted me on the selection of one. I pro- 
posed Schomberg, whom he refused to accept, alleging that 
he would render the children pedantic. I then named the 
Chevalier de Dufort, who, he said, would give them a bom- 
bastic air. I then spake of Thiars, but he objected to him 
as being too careless ; and said that he would pay no atten- 
tion at all to the children. An idea struck me, and I said 
in a laughing tone, ' Well, what do you think of me ? ' 
* Why not,' he replied, seriously. I protested at first that I 
was jesting, but became so impressed with the thought of 
doing something at once glorious to myself and unprece- 
dented in the history of education, that I determined to take 
the situation. When the Duke heard me unfold my first 
plans, he appeared delighted, and said, ' thfe thing is de- 
cided — you must be their tutor.' " * 

The Chevalier de Bonnard, (who was a protege of Buffon 



* Memoirs of Madame de Genlis. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 5 

the naturalist,) and the Abbe Guyot, were engaged as sub- 
tutors ; but Madame de Genlis was to be absolute directress 
of her pupils, who were ordered by their father to call her 
** Maman Genlis,'' and to obey her commands in preference 
to those of the Duchess their mother. Bonnard thought his 
new position humiliating, and resigned in favor of M. Le 
Brun, for he could not endure the sarcastic remarks of the 
courtiers, who not only ridiculed the innovation of intrust- 
ing the education of boys to a woman, but commented freely 
upon a father's placing his children under the charge of his 
chere amie. 

Madame de Genlis compiled a system of education, based 
upon the Emile of Rousseau,* which was thorough, and 
would have been excellent, had it included the inculcation 
of moral principle. Destitute of this governing virtue, 
Madame de Genlis could not, and did not cultivate it in the 
hearts of her pupils, who were also taught to sacrifice every 
thing for themselves and their family, and to regard life as 
a play, in which they were studiously to act a part. The 
pure-hearted Duchess, among her causes of grievance 
against Madame de Genlis, placed foremost the dramat- 
ical educatipn given to her children, dreading the effects 
such a system might have upon them, by destroying the 
candor of their youthful hearts, and substituting artificial 
feelings for those of nature. An instance of this was given 
at Spa, where the family were passing the summer. The 
Duchess lay for some time dangerously ill, but recovered 
her health by drinking the water of the Sauveniere, a mine- 
ral spring in the vicinity. Instead of sending with simple 
congratulations her sons and daughter, who had not been 
permitted to visit her sick bed, and to whom she would so 
joyfully have opened her arms with maternal tenderness, 
Madame de Genlis must needs compose a sentimental 
eclogue for the occasion. The vicinity of the spring was 



* Memoirs of the Duke de Montpensier. 
1* 



RISE AND FALL 



ornamented with flowers, the groves around were so thinned 
as to afford a view of the surrounding landscape, and, at the 
appointed hour, the children were duly ranged upon a turf 
stage to receive the Duchess. When she appeared, Louis 
Philippe recited a complimentary ode, and at its close a 
tableau was formed around a white marble altar, surmounted 
by a statue of the Goddess of Health. Adelaide, her hand 
on her heart, and her eyes raised to heaven, appeared to be 
thanking Providence ; while Louis Philippe on his knees, 
followed with a graver, as if tracing with it, the first word of 
the inscription on the altar — " Gratitude." It was thus that 
Madame de Genlis reduced every thing to stage-like rules, 
even filial piety; and the moral education of her pupils was 
alternately composed of an idyl, a pastoral, a melo-drama, 
and a romance. 

The mental training of the children was excellent, and 
Louis Philippe soon surpassed his brothers and sister when 
he once applied himself, though having been a spoiled child 
he was not at first disposed to study. When his indefatiga- 
ble instructress called him into her room, at the commence- 
ment of her duties, to receive a lesson in history, she relates 
that, instead of listening, he yawned and stretched himself, 
then threw himself upon the sofa, placed his feet upon the 
table, and closed his eyes as if to sleep. Judicious severity 
cured these anti-studious habits, and he was soon deeply in- 
terested, not only in the usual branches of polite literature, 
but in the Roman law and surgery — every hour in the day 
having its appointed study. A German valet, an Italian 
table servant, and an English teacher, were in constant at- 
tendance upon the children, and were only allowed to con- 
verse in the language of their respective countries. One 
day the English teacher forgot himself, and, to assist him 
in conveying his meaning more rapidly to his pupils, made 
use of the French tongue. " Hold ! " said Louis Philippe, 
" I will not understand you now, because you speak to me 
in French. 1 will admit that I did not comprehend what 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



you said in English, but I will have patience to learn, if 
you will to speak, so let us begin it all over again." This 
perseverance enabled him so to master the English, Italian, 
and German languages, that he not only conversed in them 
with fluency, but wrote them grammatically ; and when 
seated on the throne was enabled to carry on diplomatic 
conversations and correspondences, without being obliged 
to resort for aid to interpreters or secretaries. Daily 
journals were faithfully kept of all that transpired between 
the pupils and Madame de Genlis ; and Louis Philippe once 
remarked to an American gentleman, that, for upwards of 
sixty years, he had only let four days pass without making 
the usual entry in, his diary. To practical education, so 
important, yet so generally neglected, Madame de Genlis 
paid particular attention. At their summer residence of 
St. Leu, near Paris, the young princes cultivated a small 
garden under the direction of a German gardener, while 
they were instructed in botany and the medicinal virtues of 
plants by their physician, who was the companion of their 
rambles. All the principal manufactories of the capital 
were carefully inspected ,^cind the princes had also their own 
work-shops, in which they were taught the use of the lathe, 
of joiners' and of gunsmiths' tools. Louis Philippe excelled in 
cabinet making, (an art which, it is jocosely said, he has since 
turned to good account,) and, assisted only by his brother, 
the Duke de Montpensier, made a heauffat or corner cup- 
board, and a table with drawers, for the wife of a poor inva- 
lid soldier in the village of St. Leu. 

The beds of the princes were thin mattrasses, placed 
upon planks with no covering but a mat, and they every 
morning took cold baths after rising at sunrise — healthful 
practices which Louis Philippe continued when king. Long 
pedestrian excursions with leaden soles to their shoes ; eques- 
trian, fencing, swimming and gymnastic exercises, exposure 
to heat, cold and rain, were mingled with the more intel- 
lectual pursuits — Madame de Genlis adopting as a rule in the 



8 RISE AND FALL 

education of her pupils, that ancient prayer : Mens sana in 
corpore sano. 

To acquire popularity, was, in the opinion of Madame de 
Genlis, one of the first duties of a Prince-Royal, and in her 
Memoires numerous instances are cited in which she availed 
herself of circumstances calculated to raise Louis Philippe 
in the estimation of the people, then just awakening to a 
sense of their power. One of these was the melo-dramatic 
destruction of the prison-cage in the fortress of St. Michael, 
in which Louis XIV. confined for seventeen years an un- 
fortunate Dutch editor who had chronicled the licentious 
revels at Marly, and was seized by stratagem in Holland in 
order to gratify the " great monarch's " vengeance. It was 
framed of large beams, with interstices between, and placed 
in a damp, cold cellar, where the light was excluded, and 
the air impure. For fifteen years it had only been used as 
a temporary place of confinement for refractory prisoners, 
and when showing it to Madame de Genlis and her pupils, 
the Governor of the fortress remarked, that it would not 
long remain as a monument of royal cruelty, since the 
Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.) had, on seeing it a 
few months previous, commanded its demolition. Here was 
a rare opportunity for producing an effect, and, prompted 
by his instructress before leaving the fortress, Louis Philippe 
requested to see the cage destroyed, and the next morning 
was fixed upon for the ceremony. The Governor, who was 
also Prior of the Shrine of St. Michael, headed the proces- 
sion with his monks, then came the visitors, with two car- 
penters, escorted by the villagers under arms, and followed 
by the prisoners, conducted by their gaolers. After hearing 
mass, they descended into the vault with torches, and formed 
around the walls. Louis Philippe made a few remarks, 
after which, *' taking an axe, he gave the first blow, and the 
carpenters following, soon broke down the door and cut to 
pieces many of the timbers." The prisoners saw with joy 
their dreaded place of punishment destroyed, and shouted 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. ^ 

" Live the House of Orleans," an intoxicating ovation to 
the young Prince. For years his favorite books had been 
the biographies of Henry IV , of Conde, and of Turenne, 
and his ambition was excited to have his own name in the 
dictionary of illustrious men. 

This artificial life did not prevent the formation of an at- 
tachment between Louis Philippe and his sister Adelaide, 
which grew " with their gro\\ th, and strengthened with 
their strength." Through years of despondency and mis- 
fortune, when the horizon was darkly unpromising, they 
comforted each other by their mutual hopes, counselled each 
other with their best advice, cheered on each other by their 
brightest anticipations, defended each other from calumny, 
and vindicated each other's fame, with a steadfastness of 
purpose and a devotedness of heart which all lovers of con- 
stant affection must admire. She was religious without 
bigotry, and her serious duties were always characterized 
by a benevolence as cheerful as it was expansive — adver- 
sities had made her acquainted with the desire (when 
brighter days shone upon her) to administer to want. 



FAC-SIMILE OF LOUIS XTl. 




10 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER II. 

The political tendencies of Madame de Genlis's system 
of education are to be found in her works, which were the 
text-books of her pupils. She advocated a revolution, as 
calculated to aid the Duke of Orleans in his ambitious 
schemes for dethroning the king and becoming Regent of 
France. In England the direct line of the royal family 
had been expelled in favor of the Prince of Orange, and 
Louis Philippe was taught to believe that the triumph of 
radical principles would insure his father's success. Thiers 
gives an animated account of the scenes daily enacted in 
the garden of the Palais Royal, where the Duke of Orleans 
distributed large sums of money to the lower classes, and 
congregated the most vehement agitators. There might be 
seen an orator mounted upon a table, collecting a crowd 
around him, and exciting them by the most furious lan- 
guage — language always unpunished — for there the mob 
reigned as sovereign. Louis Philippe was an attentive lis- 
tener, and was ever ready to unlock the inclosures, that the 
discontented factions might pluck from the evergreen trees 
sprigs of recognition for their hats or caps. One of these 
factions which he had thus decorated, carrying in procession 
wax busts of Necker and the Duke of Orleans, was met 
near the Place Vendome by the Royal German regiment, 
which fired upon it. Several persons were wounded, among 
them a private in the regiment of French Guards, who 
were notoriously protected and supplied with money by the 
Duke of Orleans. They joined the people, and fired upon 
the Royal Germans, whose Colonel, the Prince de Lambesc, 
fell back upon the Garden of the Tuileries, charged the 
people who were quietly walking there, and while his men 
wounded several with pistol shots, himself cut the uplifted 



OF LOUIS PHILlPrE. 11 

arms of an old man with his sword. The Parisians are re- 
markable, says Thomas Paine, for their respect to old age, 
and the insolence with which this outrage was committed, 
uniting with the general fermentation of the day, produced 
a powerful effect, and a cry of " to arms, to arms," spread 
itself in a moment over the city. 

Terror, before unbounded, was now changed into fury.* 
The people armed themselves, wine was distributed freely 
at the Palais Royal, and frightful excesses were committed 
in the streets. A few days afterwards, (it was the 14th of 
July, 1789,) the French Guards placed themselves at the 
head of the infuriated populace, and after hard fighting cap- 
tured the Bastille, that formidable prison which had endured 
many sieges, and which Henry IV. himself could not take. 
Delauny, the Governor, was beheaded on the square in front, 
where several cannoneers were also executed ; the people, 
elated with victory, dancing around their remains amid the 
applause of a large party of spectators assembled on the ad- 
joining terrace of the Beaumarchais garden. Madame de 
Genlis was there, with Louis Philippe, his sister and 
brothers, and when after their return to the Palais Royal in 
the evening, a mob of fish-women, intoxicated with fury and 
wine, commenced dancing in the garden, the young people 
were encouraged by their governess to descend and join in 
the saturnalia. 

In the month of October fdkrcving, Madame de Genlis 
treated her pupils to a more horrible sight from the terrace 
of a house at Passy t — the infuriated populace bringing 
the royal family from Versailles to the City Hall of Paris, 
their first resting place during protracted misery, that ter- 
minated some years afterwards on the scaffold. The pro- 
cession was led by a band of ruffians, who had breakfasted 
on half roasted horse-flesh, served up upon the corpses of 

* Thiers's French Revolution. 

+ Memoirs of Clermont Gallerande. 



12 RISE AND FALL 

two life-guardsmen whom they had massacred below the 
windows of the king, and whose bloody heads they bore in 
triumph upon pikes. Surely, Satan himself, says Lavalette, 
must have invented the placing of a human head at the end 
of a lance, where the disfigured and pale features, the gory 
locks, the half open mouth, the closed eyes, images of death 
added to the salutations which the executioners made them 
perform in mockery of life, presented the most frightful 
spectacle that rage could have imagined. After this fero- 
cious horde came the royal carriage, escorted by the Pa- 
risian National Guard, and a large troop of fish-women, the 
scum of their sex, and generally ugly as crime itself, who 
alternately embraced and insulted the soldiers. Several of 
th?se abandoned creatures were astride upon the cannon, 
celebrating by the most abominable songs all the crimes 
which they had committed or witnessed, while others, nearer 
the carriage, were singing allegorical airs, and by their gross 
gestures applying the insulting allusions in them to the 
queen. She, poor woman, had that morning fled for her 
life from a furious mob, who rushed into her room a few 
minutes after she had left it, and, enraged at finding their 
victim escaped, pierced her bed with their bayonets. Yet 
Bertrand de Molleville, who was an eye-witness of this dis- 
tressing spectacle, says that amidst this clamor, this tumult, 
these songs, interrupted by frequent discharges of musketry, 
which the hand of a monster or an awkward person might 
have rendered so fatal,' Marie Antoinette retained the most 
courageous tranquillity of mind, and an air of inexpressible 
nobleness and dignity. Once only she shuddered and turned 
deadly pale — it was when she saw Madame de Genlis and 
her pupils evidently delighted at the sight of the procession. 
The young people were her relatives, and gratitude, if 
nothing else, should have restrained them from thus exult- 
ino- over her downfall. No later than the first of January 
previous, she had prevailed upon the King to create Louis 
Philippe (their godson) Knight of the Holy Ghost, and with 



OF LOUIS riULirPE. 13 

the blue riband of the order he received a pension of a 
thousand crowns. 

The initiation of Louis Philippe into the mysteries of po- 
litical intrigue, was at a club originally founded in the 
village of Montrouge, near Paris, but which afterwards held 
its meetings in the apartment of Madame de Genlis, at the 
Palais Royal, — literature cloaking its real designs, as the 
madness of the first Brutus concealed his vengeance.* 
Headed by the Abbe Sieyes, that mystic oracle of the Rev- 
olution, they used to deliberate schemes for gaining the 
Duke of Orleans the Regency, or, as some think, the throne 
itself Louis Philippe entered into their plans with the 
ardor of youth, electioneering with great spirit for his father 
when he was a candidate for the States-General at Crespy. 
The Duke was elected, and also chosen at Villars-Cotherets, 
but he preferred to represent Crespy, because the voters of 
that district were the more patriotic of the two. At the 
opening procession of the States-General, he left his own 
place vacant among the nobility, and walked with the depu- 
ties, abdicating the privileges of a Prince Royal, to assume 
the dignity of a citizen.- 

Lafayette, if we may credit Lamartine, instinctively hated 
in the Duke of Orleans an influential rival, and resolved at 
all risks to compel him to remove from the scene, by an 
exercise of moral restraint or the fear of a state prosecution, 
and reside in England. The King was easily convinced of 
his plots to win the throne, and the Duke was at last forced 
to submit to an arbitrary exile, under the appearance of a 
diplomatic mission freely accepted. Before leaving, he gave 
Louis Philippe a separate establishment, and commended 
him to Mirabeau, one of those mysterious mortals described 
by Bossuet as the instruments of God's designs. Deriving 
a certain aristocracy of ideas from his birth, he took part 
with the people because he had shared in their oppressions, 



* Lamarliue's History of the Girondins. 

2 



14 RISE AND FALL 

and was carried by the same passions which sullied his pri- 
vate life, up to the loftiest paths of a public career. Though 
nervous most of the time under the influence of wine and 
love, he was able, at any moment, to retire from one of those 
voluptuous fetes which still lingered about the court, and 
prepare, by the severe application of theories to facts, those 
profound and passionate displays of eloquence, with which 
he annihilated the old system, and would have renovated 
the new.* 

Such was the man chosen to initiate Louis Philippe into 
political life, and it is not strange that we find such entries 
as the following in the young Prince's journal : " Septem- 
ber 10th, 1 790. — In the evening we went to the theatre to 
see Brutus. Many allusions were made. When Brutus 
said — ' Ye gods ! Give me death sooner than slavery' — the 
whole house rang with the applause and bravos. All hats 
were up 1 It was superb. Another line ended with — ' Be 
free, and without a king.' It was covered with plaudits." 

With such counsellors as Mirabeau and Madame de Genlis, 
Louis Philippe soon became thoroughly inoculated with the 
revolutionary spirit, and was chosen a member of the Jacobin 
club, then in the very zenith of its power. He thus chroni- 
cles his admission into that wild assemblage, upon whose 
countenances was stamped " Revenge upon our oppressors," 
while their agitated lips pronounced those words — destined 
to be so terrible, though then pure — " Liberty, justice for 
the great masses of mankind." " November 2d, 1790. — I 
was yesterday admitted a member of the Jacobins, and much 
applauded. I returned thanks for the kind reception which 
they were so good as to give me, and I assured them that I 
should never deviate from the sacred duties of a good patriot 
and a good citizen." 

Other entries in his journal show that his mentors im- 
pressed upon his mind the necessity of winning popular 



* Bulwer's France. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 15 

favor, and that he carried their counsels into practice. He 
was a daily attendant at the public hospitals, as on the 2d of 
December, when he " dressed two patients, and gave one 
six, and the other three livres;" nor was the church neg- 
lected. On the 25th of December, he says, " I went yester- 
day morning to confession. I dined at the Palais Royal, 
and then went to the Philanthropic Society, whence I could 
not get away till eight o'clock. I went to the midnight 
mass at St. Eustache, returned at two in the morning, and 
got to bed at half past two. I performed my Christmas de- 
votions at this mass." 

Meanwhile the Duke of Orleans had returned from Eng- 
land, although Lafayette had sent his aid-de-camp to Lon- 
don, with an urgent request that he would prolong his 
absence. The counter arguments of Lachos, one of the 
favorites of Madame de Genlis, imputing his deference to 
Lafayette to cowardice, stirred his Bourbon blood, but on 
his arrival at Paris he lacked courage to put into execution 
projects of revenge, and sent a humble petition to the Min- 
istry for the restoration of a commission he had previously 
held in the navy. Notwithstanding his conduct and that of 
his children, the King, with that kindness which the elder 
branch of the Bourbons has ever displayed towards the 
House of Orleans, appointed him Admiral. Upon receiving 
his commission, the Duke of Orleans waited upon the King, 
and read a long excuse for his past errors, in a voice nearly 
choked by emotion, and with those gestures, more eloquent 
than words, that add so much pathos to solemn explanations. 
The King, deeply affected, forgave him, and the Duke re- 
turned to the Palais Royal, reconciled with himself, and de- 
termined thenceforth to be loyal. His puny ambition was 
easily satisfied, and he would have become one of the hum- 
blest sycophants around the throne, had the court possessed 
the same forgiving disposition as the sovereign. 

On the Sunday following this reconciliation, there was a 
grand reception at the Tuileries, and the Duke attended to 



16 . RISE AND FALL 

present his public homage, but was received with indignant 
glances by the courtiers, who had not been informed of his 
repentance and pardon. His entrance to the royal apart- 
ments was barred by the officers of the household, who 
turned their backs to him, and the servants passing at the 
time with the Queen's dinner, a voice cried, '' look to the 
dishes," as though some notorious poisoner was present. 
The indignant Duke turned alternately pale and red, imag- 
ining that these insults were offered to him at the instigation 
of the King, and as he descended the staircase to leave the 
palace, withering remarks were made by an indignant crowd 
who followed him, some of whom even spat on him. He 
had entered the Tuileries appeased, he quitted it implaca- 
ble ; and finding on his return home Madame de Genlis and 
her clique happy to nourish his resentment, he was easily 
convinced by them that his only refuge against court per- 
secutions was in the last ranks of the Democracy, and he 
enrolled himself resolutely in them to find safety or ven- 
geance. Thenceforth Danton was his chief adviser, the 
Jacobin Club his favorite resort, and he followed the extreme 
party without hesitation, even to the Republic — to Regi- 
cide — to Death ! * 

The children of the Duke of Orleans, indignant at the 
treatment their father had received at court, became more 
violently radical, and the young men wore constantly the 
uniform of the National Guard, to which Louis Philippe 
joined the red cap, an emblem which probably was origi- 
nally derived from Phrygia, but had for upwards of a cen- 
tury been the distinctive headgear of a French galley slave. 
On the 9th of February, 1791, the three brothers went to 
register their names on the roll of the light infantry com- 
pany of the National Guard in the parish of St. Roch, and 
seeing the clerk enter his titles of rank and nobility, the 
eldest took the pen, blotted out what had been written, and 



* Lamanine's History of the Girondins. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 17 

signed himself, " Louis PJiilippe Egalite, Prince Frangais 
jjour son mallieur, mais Jacobin jus qu^ an bout de ses ongles." * 
Louis Philippe Equality, unfortunately a French Prince, but 
a Jacobin to the very end of his nails. 

This strong language was perhaps used in order to at- 
tract popularity among his comrades, for soon after Louis 
Philippe was a candidate for the post of commander of the 
battalion of St. Roch. One of the weakest points of his 
character is a desire to secure popularity at the moment, to 
effect the object at the moment desired; but on this occa-, 
sion even the immediate end was not gained — the thor- 
ough-going Jacobin was defeated, and a shoemaker elected 
commandant of the battalion. 

At the National Assembly Louis Philippe was a constant 
attendant, and translated for it an English work on the 
Revolution, by Joseph Towers, in answer to Burke, though, 
at his father's request, his secretary's name was prefixed to 
it. Day after day he listened with enthusiastic attention to 
the harangues from the revolutionary tribune, whose orators, 
following the example of the ancients, heated their elo- 
quence in the flame of genius, instead of suffering it to 
grow cold in political combination, and exhibited in 
their speeches superb language, deep thought, and politi- 
cal incapacity. Sometimes he spoke himself, but his repu- 
tation as an orator was not equal to that which he enjoyed 
as a jovial boon companion, gathering around him in his 
apartments the most agreeable actresses and witty youth of 
his party. It has never been recorded, however, that his dis- 
sipation degenerated into the excesses for which his ancestors 
had been infamously notorious. 

Mirabeau had separated himself from the Duke of Or- 
leans, and remained faithful to the royal cause, which he 
was paid to defend ; but the most intimate relations con- 
tinued to exist between him and Louis Philippe. At last 



* Sarraa's History of France. 

2* 



IS 



RISE AND FALL 



excess in pleasure and in business undermined the popular 
orator's vigorous constitution, and on the 20th of April, 1791, 
Louis Philippe was summoned, with other friends, to his 
death-bed. " Open ther windows, Cabanis," said the dying 
man. " All that can now be done is to envelop oneself 
in perfumes, to crown oneself with flowers, to surround one- 
self with music, that one may sink quietly into everlasting 
sleep." Acute pains interrupting these rants of atheistical 
voluptuosness, he insisted upon taking opium, and, to quiet 
. him, his physician mixed a draught which he said contained 
a death portion. He took it with composure, swallowed the 
draught which he believed to be mortal, and in a few mo- 
ments breathed his last. He could, (says one of his most 
talented countrymen,) afford to die — he had given the art 
of oratory to France. 



OF LOUIS PIIFLIPrE. 19 



CHAPTER III. 

Deprived of Mirabeau, upon whom the King depended 
for extrication from the difficulties which were thickening 
around him, he determined to maintain his throne by foreign 
swords, and thus enabled the National Assembly to utilise 
the war spirit, that fatal yet popular obstacle to French pros- 
perity. It dates from the reign of Louis XIII., when feu- 
dality had been destroyed by uniting the great iiefs to the 
crown, and the people flocked around the throne, ready to 
support their monarch in his maddest schemes, in return for 
their delivery from a horde of oppressive tyrants. The first 
result of this new order of things was a tissue of domestic 
dissensions and religious persecutions, under which the na- 
tional existence of France would soon have been destroyed, 
had not the ambitious Richelieu guaranteed his power by 
the formation of a war party. The spirit thus kindled, was 
fanned into a flame by Anne of Austria, who next ascended 
the throne as dueeii Regent — her adviser, Mazarin, (an- 
other belted priest,) finding it for his interest to embroil 
France in an almost continual series of conflicts, which 
Louis XIV. continued throuorhout his life. Declared, as 
most of these wars were, in obedience to the dictates of his 
own passions, the " Grand Monarch" felt bound in honor to 
carry them on ; nor, aware of his own incapacity, dared he 
quarrel with the Minister who had thought and acted for 
him — whose astute intellect had first brought about the 
dispute, then fostered it into a declaration of hostilities, 
and gone on to commence the campaign. The turbulent 
aristocracy, in whose breasts chivalry yet lingered, were 
charmed with the congenial occupation of arms ; they flocked 
around their sovereign's oriflame, and soon became such 
slaves to military discipline, that Louis XIV. could truly say 



20 RISE AND FALL 

" I am the State ! " Equally loyal were the rank and file, 
who were rarely promoted, but often revelled on the rich 
booty of conquered provinces, while the people rejoiced 
over captured standards, and toiled to sustain the armies 
sent forth. War became popular ! That fiendish spirit which 
desolates and scourges nations, henceforth swayed France ! 

For years the history of France is thus a record of strug- 
gles which drained her of blood and treasure. Human life 
and the public finances were sacrificed with a lavish hand, 
and for what ? To keep in place the Minister of the day, 
who dreaded peaceful times, as affording his fickle sovereign 
an opportunity to select another favorite. Besides, the army 
chest is the most convenient of all sources for rewarding 
adherents, and troops always uphold the hand which distrib- 
utes advancement and pay. A lieutenant's epaulette was 
necessarily the first stepping-stone to position, and the licen- 
tious habits of the camp gradually pervaded society. France 
became noted for brute force, reckless expenditure, and 
unblushing dissipation ; or, to use the words of Bulwef , 
" her dark Bastille, her bankrupt exchequer, and her shame- 
less eourt." During the first three quarters of the eighteenth 
century her armies were forty-six years absent on hostile 
expeditions, each campaign increasing the national debt, 
and consequently the taxation. And when, at last, the im- 
poverished people determined to throw ofli* the yoke of op- 
pression, (for the glory with which it had been gilded only 
increased its weight,) Louis XVJ. thought to put them down 
by calling to his aid Swiss, Piedmontese and Spanish troops. 
The Assembly were advised of this by an intercepted letter 
to the King from the Emperor Leopold, and determined to 
secure the French army for their purposes. They knew 
that a war, carried on under their direction, would increase 
their power. All officers were ordered to join their com- 
mands, and report to the National Assembly. 

Louis Philippe, who, since 1785, had been proprietary 
Colonel of the 14th regiment of dragoons, repaired to 



OF LOUIS PHILIPrE. 



21 



Vendoine, where it was quartered in June, 1791, and as- 
sumed the command. Placing himself under a drill ser- 
geant, he was soon a good tactician, winning the hearts of 
his soldiers by his strict compliance with military disci- 
pline, listening to their complaints, joining in their amuse- 
ments, and leaving nothing undone to elevate the character 
of the regiment. In barracks, where there were several 
nobles at the officers' mess who were devoted to their King, 
he used to say " that he was a soldier of France, and that 
she required their lives and their services, and not their 
opinions." Yet he was a regular attendant, as were most 
of his private soldiers, at the Constitutional Club of Ven- 
dome ; and when, on the 27th of June, a decree for the 
suppression of orders of knighthood, passed by the National 
Assembly, was discussed, he declared, " that he was too 
much the friend of equality not to receive a decree for 
the suppression of such emblems with transport." 

On the same day there was a serious commotion at Ven- 
dome, owing to the seizure by the populace of two clergy- 
men, who (as had many others) refused to take an oath 
prescribed by the constitution. Louis Philippe thus de- 
scribes it in his journal : 

" At noon I had brouorht back the reg-iment, but with 
orders not to unboot or unsaddle. I asked Messrs. Dubois, 
d'Albis, Jacquemin, and Phillippe, to dinner. They brought 
us word that the people had collected in a mob, and were 
about to hang two priests. I ran immediately to the place, 
followed by Pieyre, Dubois, and d'Albis. I came to the 
door of a tavern, where I found ten or twelve national 
guards, the mayor, the town-clerk, and a considerable num- 
ber of people, crying, 'They have broken the law; they 
must be hanged — to the lamp-post!' I asked the mayor 
what all this meant, and what it was all about. He replied, 
* It is a nonjuring priest and his father, who have escaped 
into this house ; the people allege that they have insulted 
M. Buisson, a priest, who has taken the civic oath, and who 



22 ' RISE AND FALL 

was carrying the holy sacrament, and I can no longer restrain 
them. I have sent for a voiture to convey them away. Have 
the goodness to send for tw^o dragoons to escort them.' I 
did so immediately. The mayor stood motionless before the 
door, not opening his mouth. I therefore addressed some 
of the most violent of the mob, and endeavored to explain 
' how wrong it would be to hang men without trial ; that, 
moreover, they would be doing the -work of the executioner, 
which they considered infamous; that there were Judges 
whose duty it was to deal with these men.' The mob an- 
swered that the Judges were aristocrats, and that they did 
not punish the guilty. I replied, ' That's your own fault, as 
they are elected by yourselves; but you must not take the 
law into your own hands.' There was now much confusion ; 
at last one voice cried — ' We will spare them for the sake 
of M. de Chartres.' ' Yes, yes, yes,' cried the people ; ' he 
is a good patriot; he edified us all this morning. Bring 
them out; we shall do them no harm.' 

"I went up to the room where the unhappy men were, 
and asked them if they would trust themselves to me ; they 
said yes. I preceded them down stairs, and exhorted the 
people not to forget what they had promised. They cried 
out again, ' Be easy ; they shall receive no harm.' I called 
to the driver to bring up the carriage; upon which the 
crowd cried out, ' No voiture — on foot, on foot, that we 
may have the satisfaction of hooting them, and expelling them 
ignominiously from the town.' ' Well,' I said, ' on foot ; be 
it so; 'tis the same thing to me, for you are too honest to 
forfeit your word.' We set out amidst hisses and a torrent 
of abuse; I gave my arm to one of the men, and the mayor 
was on the other side. The priest walked between Messrs. 
Dubois and d'Albis. Not thinking at the moment, I unluck- 
ily took the direction towards Paris. The mayor asked one 
of the men where he would wish to go ; he answered, ' To 
Blois.' It was directly the contrary way from that which 
we were taking. The mayor wished to return, and to pass 




LOUIS PHILIPPE RESCUING THE PRIESTS. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 23 

across the whole town. I opposed this, and we changed 
our direction, but without going back through the streets. 
We passed a little wooden bridge of a few planks without 
rails ; there the mob cried to throw them into the river, and 
endeavored, by putting sticks across, to make them fall into 
the water. I again reminded them of their promise, and 
they became quiet. 

" When we were about a mile out of the town, some of 
the country people came running down the hill, and threw 
themselves upon us, calling out, ' Hang or drown the two 
rascals ! ' One of them seized one of the poor wretches by 
the coat, and the crowd rushing in, forced away the mayor 
and M. d'Albis. I remained alone with M. Dubois, and we 
endeavored to make the peasant loose his hold. I held one 
of the men by one hand, and with the other endeavored to 
free the coat. At last one of the national guard arrived to 
our assistance, and by force cleared the man. The crowd 
was still increasing. It is but justice to the people of Yen- 
dome to say that they kept their word, and tried to induce 
the peasants to do no violence to the men. Seeing, how- 
ever, that if I continued my march, some misfortune must 
inevitably occur, I cried we must take them to prison, and 
then all the people cried, ' To prison ! to prison ! ' Some 
voices cried, * They must ask pardon of God, and thank 
M. de Chartres for their lives.' That was soon done, and 
we set out for the prison. As we went along, one man 
came forward with a gun, and said to us, ' Stand out of 
the way while I fire on them.' Believing that he was really 
about to fire, I rushed forward in front of my two men, 
saying, * You shall kill me first.' As the man was well- 
dressed, M. Pieyre said to him, ' But how can you act so ? ' 
* I was only joking,' says the man ; ' my gun is not charged.' 
We again continued our way, and the two men were lodged 
in the prison." 

As Louis Philippe was returning to his quarters the next 
day, after parade, a peasant came to him with a basket of 



'/i4 RISE AND TALL 

fruit, which he begged him to accept in token of his grati- 
tude, saying, " I am the man who, yesterday, in a trans- 
port of rage, sought to kill Father Paul. I have come to 
ask your pardon, to thank you for having prevented my com- 
mitting so great a crime, and I hope you will not refuse my 
fruit." Two other extracts from Louis Philippe's journal 
record an equally creditable action : — 

" August 3. — Happy day ! I have saved a man's life, or 
rather have contributed to save it. This evening, after 
having read a little of Pope, Metastasio, and Emile, I went 
to bathe. Edward and I were dressing ourselves, when I 
heard cries of ' HeJp, help, I am drowning ! " I ran imme- 
diately to the cry, as did Edward, who was farther. I came 
first, and could only see the tops of the person's fingers. I 
laid hold of that hand, which seized mine with indescri- 
bable strength, and by the way in which he held me, would 
have drowned me, if Edward had not come up and seized 
one of his legs, which deprived him of the power of jump- 
ing on me. We then got him ashore. He could scarcely 
speak, but he nevertheless expressed great gratitude to me 
as well as to Edward. I think with pleasure on the effect 
this will produce at Bellechasse. I am born under a happy 
star ! Opportunities offer themselves in every way ; I have 
only to avail myself of them ! The man w^e saved is one 
M. Siret, an inhabitant of Vendome, sub-engineer in the 
office of roads and bridges. I go to bed happy ! " 

" August 11. — Another happy day. I had been invited 
yesterday to attend at the Town-House with some non-com- 
missioned officers and privates. I went to-day, and was 
received with an address ; there a letter was then read from 
M. Siret, who proposed that the municipal body should 
decree that a civic crown should be given to any citizen 
who should save the life of a fellow-creature, and that, in 
course, one should be presented to me. The municipal 
body adopted the proposition, and I received a crown amidst 
the applause of a numerous assembly of spectators. I was 



OF I, oris I'lm.iiM'i:. 'J-j 

very much ashamed. I nevertheless expressed my gratitude 
as well as I could." 

His journal also shows that while pursuing his military 
avocations, he was a diligent student, as for instance : — 
" Yesterday morning at exercise. On returning from parade, 
I undressed, and read some from Henault, Sternheim, and 
Mably. Dined, and after dinner read some from Ipsiple, 
Matastasio, Heloise, and Pope. At five to the riding-school ; 
and afterwards read Emile." 

The reports of Louis Philippe to the National Assembly 
are well written, and exhibited in a strong light the 
liberal political views of the privates, while the monarchical 
prejudices of a majority of the officers were glossed over 
by praise of their attention to their duties. So strongly 
were a majority of these young men, (mostly, like Louis 
Philippe, members of aristocratic families,) attached to 
the old forms of government, that when the new oath of 
allegiance required by the National Assembly was received, 
only seven out of twenty-eight signed it. Nothing but the 
known radical sentiments of " Colonel L. P. Egalite " saved 
the regiment from being disbanded, but so long as he was 
in command, and continued to enjoy the respect and con- 
fidence of his men, the National Assembly could reckon the 
14th dragoons among its staunchest defenders. 

Although the foreign powers had liberally promised to 
aid Louis XVI. in re-establishing his government, and the 
emigrants at Brussels and Coblentz talked largely, nothing 
was done. The royal family endeavored to escape, but 
were brought back to Paris captives. The Austrian cabinet 
persuaded Leopold to refrain from any hostile demonstration 
— Spain, fearing that any military movement might expose 
the royal family to greater dangers, not only recalled her 
troops ordered to the frontier, but prevented an expedi- 
tion against Marseilles, in which the knights of Malta were 
to assist with two frigates — Pitt was unwilling to send any 
aid from England — Gustavus of Sweden was too far dis- 
3 



26 RISE AND FALL 

tant — Catherine of Russia, who was to join him in an ex- 
pedition, had but just conquered the Turks, and now had 
Poland to reduce, and the emigrants, unsupported, could 
only linger about the frontier and issue proclamations. To 
keep them in check, the National Assembly ordered its 
most reliable troops into the field, and the 14th dragoons 
were, in August, 1791, removed to Valenciennes, where 
they were quartered during the winter, — Louis Philippe, 
as senior officer of the garrison, commanding the place. 

Louis XVI., imprisoned in his own capital, found that he 
had committed a great error in depending upon aid from 
abroad, and when, by the death of Leopold, the temporiz- 
ing policy of European diplomacy was no longer opposed 
to the contagion of new ideas, there was only one course 
for the unfortunate monarch to pursue. That was, to place 
himself at the head of the war party. Dumouriez pro- 
posed hostilities at the council of Ministers, and induced the 
King, as if by the hand of fatality itself, to propose them 
to the Assembly. " Then the people," said he, " will credit 
your attachment, when they behold you embrace their cause, 
and combat kings in their defence." 

It was a hard task for Louis XVI. to thus declare against 
his allies, whose only offence was a determination to protect 
and support his emigrant relatives and their adherents in 
their attempts to sustain the inviolability of the throne, but 
he had not the genius to resist the popular current — trust- 
ing himself to its course, it bore him to the scaffold. En- 
couraged by Dumouriez, (who was the intimate friend of 
Madame de Genlis,) he unexpectedly entered the National 
Assembly on the 20th of April, 1792, and after his minister 
had made a detailed report of the regulations with Austria, 
made a short address in a faltering voice, proposing an im- 
mediate declaration of war. It was received with enthusi- 
asm, not only by the Assembly, but by the war-loving 
people, and in a week thousands of troops were on their 
way to the frontier, under the command of Lafayette, 
Rochambeau, and Biron. 



OF LOUIS PHlLIPrE. 27 



CHAPTER IV. 

Louis Philippe having been detached to General Biron's 
division, which was to move from Valenciennes upon Mons, 
masking the advance of the main army under Lafayette 
against Liege, the Duke of Orleans obtained permission to 
serve in it as a volunteer, with his other two sons, the young- 
est of whom was only thirteen years of age. He had pre- 
viously sent his daughter to England with Madame de 
Genlis, " to withdraw her from the influence of a woman," 
as he termed the Duchess, " whose opinions were not in ac- 
cordance with his own." 

General Biron, who commanded the division of ten thou- 
sand men, in which the Orleans family were thus comrades, 
had participated in many a debauch at the Palais Royal, and 
was attached to the Duke, though he was too noble hearted 
to join in his plots. Known at the court of Marie Antoinette 
as the handsome Duke of Lauzun, he had renounced his 
title when he embraced the popular cause, but, young and 
chivalrous, he carried aristocratic honor into the republican 
camp. Lamartine describes him as one who, loved by the 
soldiers, adored by the ladies, at his ease in the tent, a rake 
at court, was of that school of sparkling vices of which 
Marshal Richelieu had been the type in France. It is even 
said that the queen herself was enamored of him, without 
being able to fix his inconstancy. 

The campaign was opened on the 20th of April, 1792, 
and Louis Philippe gained his first laurels at Bossu, where 
the advanced guard of two dragoon regiments under his 
command put double their numbers to flight. The division 
was equally successful at Quaragnon and Quirevain, but on 
arriving before Mons, which was guarded by a weak Aus- 



28 RISE AND FALL 

trian force, the advanced guard, though not in presence of 
the enemy, were apparently panic-struck, and cried out, 
" We are betrayed." In vain did Louis Philippe endeavor 
to rally them ; they turned bridle, and galloped back through 
the division, scattering fear and disorder among the ranks. 
Biron and the other officers unsuccessfully attempted to 
stop the fugitives, who, threatening to shoot all who opposed 
their escape, fled back to Valenciennes, leaving their 
baggage and munitions of war in the hands of the enemy. 
By a singular coincidence, the advanced cavalry of General 
Dillon, who was marching out from Lille at the same hour, 
also fled, crying that it was betrayed. The infantry was not 
only so panic-struck as to follow it, but when the cowards 
were safely behind the walls of Lille, they murdered their 
general and his aid-de-camp, as traitors. 

As may be imagined, this news created much excitement 
at Paris, all parties accusing one another of treason or a 
wish to injure the popularity of the officers. Yet so highly 
did General Biron speak of the heroic bravery of Louis 
Philippe, that he received a brevet of brigadier general as 
a reward for his brilliant military debut on the 7th of May. 
With him was promoted Berthier, afterwards Napoleon's fa- 
vorite Marshal, one of that race whose history, when read 
by future ages, will be deemed as fabulous as that of the 
" Knights of the Round Table." Beginning life under the 
burden of the knapsack, at the time when the French forces 
were driven forth by the energy of revolutionary war, to 
scour and sack the plains and cities of Europe, their mili- 
tary prowess gained them high prizes in the lottery of life. 
Yet of all the phantasmagoria of the French revolution, and 
ths king-vassals of imperial France, Bernadotte alone died 
in the position to which he had been raised. He preserved 
it, in a country jealous of its ancient liberties and of its na- 
tional independence, because he learned faithfully to observe 
the conditions of a constitutional government, and to main- 
tain, even at the sacrifice of his personal sympathies, the 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 29 

honor and freedom of the subjects who wanted him to rule 
over them. Louis Philippe should have profited by the ex- 
ample. 

The command of the northern army was now given to 
Marshal Luckner, an old Prussian, who had served under 
the great Frederic, and been attracted to France by large 
pay. He is described by Madame Roland as a brave sol- 
dier, and an honest man in the fullest acceptation of the 
term, who stood in need of nothing but a more sober im- 
agination, and a more flexible mind. With an army of 
twenty-two thousand men he advanced on Cambray, which 
was taken by his advanced guard, in which were the 14th 
and the 17th dragoons, forming the brigade commanded by 
Louis Philippe, who fought bravely. Courtray was next 
captured, but Luckner, fancying his force unable to compete 
with the Prussians, who were advancing by Coblentz, re- 
treated again on Valenciennes. The northern army was 
now divided into two corps — one remained on the frontier 
of Belgium under Duraouriez, the other, comprising Louis 
Philippe's brigade, moved, under Luckner, towards Metz. 

When Gen. Biron had returned to Paris, he was accom- 
panied by the Duke of Orleans, who is accused of having 
aided in bringing about the brutal demonstration of the 
rabble at the Tuileries on the 29th of June. Certain it is 
that the preliminary meetings of the conspirators were at- 
tended by Laclos and Sillery, two of his creatures, and that 
they had wine distributed gratuitously to the masses which 
poured forth from the faubourg St. Antoine, that abiding 
place of crime, toil, misery aild sedition. A chance shot 
from some drunken man, or some exalted patriotic assassin, 
would have removed the King, and the Duke of Orleans 
could have secured his crown. The Duke was present at 
the court of the Tuileries on the 20th, exulting in the igno- 
minies heaped upon the royal family. Not so a little 
artillery officer, who could no longer restrain his indignation 
3* 



RISE AND FALL 



when he saw a red cap handed on the point of a pike to the 
king, who was forced to put it on, and then drank from a 
bottle given him, " Success to the nation." *' What mad- 
ness ! " exclaimed the artillery officer to his companion ; 
" how could they allow these scoundrels to enter ? they ought 
to have blown four or five hundred of them into the air 
with cannon. The rest would then have taken to their 
heels." The speaker was Napoleone Buonaparte, as the 
young Corsican then subscribed himself. 

Just then intelligence was received of a conspiracy in the 
Ardennes, headed by Dessailles, which so emboldened the 
emigrant Princes that they published a proclamation, which 
concluded by asserting that — " In two months the revo- 
lution will be crushed — armed only with whips, we shall 
soon put to rout these clowns, who have taken to epaulettes 
and swords." 

*' Citizens ! the country is in danger !" was the impres- 
sive declaration of the President of the National Assembly 
when its committees had reported on the state of affairs. 
Minute guns proclaimed this appeal, and standards upon 
which it was inscribed were planted in every market-place 
in France, waving over tables at which the municipal offi- 
cers enrolled those volunteers who answered this solemn call 
to defend their native land. 

'^ Citizens ! the country is in danger I " 
" Multitudes of foreign soldiers are advancing upon our 
frontier — all those who hate Liberty are leagued against 
our Constitution ! Arm in its defence. 

'' Citizens ! the country is in danger ! Let all those who 
have the honor of enlisting under the banners of Liberty, 
remember that they are Frenchmen and Freemen ! Let 
their fellow-citizens maintain at home the safety of persons 
and property — let the magistrates be vigilant — let all re- 
main quiet and wait for the law to give the signal for action, 
and the country will be saved. 
'' Paris, July 22d, 1792." 



OF LOUIS THILIPPE. 31 

This call to arms was answered by an insulting mani- 
festo from the Duke of Brunswick, dated at Coblentz on 
the 25th of July, which was well calculated to stimulate the 
national passions to phrensy. Alison is of the opinion that, 
coming as it did in a moment of extreme public excitation, 
and enforced as it was by the most feeble and inefficient 
military measures, it contributed in a signal manner to ac- 
celerate the march of the Revolution, and was the immedi- 
ate cause of the downfall of the throne. It commenced by 
declaring that the only aim of the Emperor of Austria and 
the King of Prussia, in commencing a war of invasion, was 
*' the happiness of France," as they were '' convinced that 
the sound part of the French nation abhorred the excesses 
of a faction which domineered over it, and that the majority 
of the inhabitants awaited with impatience the moment of 
succor, to declare themselves openly against the odious en- 
terprises of their oppressors." 

" Inhabitants of cities and villages," it went on to say, 
" who shall dare to defend themselves against the troops of 
their imperial and royal majesties, and to fire upon them, 
either in the open field, or from the windows, doors and ap- 
ertures of their houses, shall be instantly punished with all 
the rigor of the law of war, and their houses demolished or 
burned." 

" The city of Paris and all its inhabitants, without dis- 
tinction, are required to submit immediately and without de- 
lay to the King, to set that prince at full and entire liberty, 
and to insure to him, as well as to all the royal personages, 
the inviolability and respect which the law of nature and 
nations renders obligatory on subjects towards their sove- 
reigns ; their imperial and royal majesties holding personally 
responsible with their lives for all that may happen, to be 
tried militarily, and without hope of pardon, all the mem- 
bers of the National Assembly, of the department, of the 
district, of the municipality, and of the national guard of 
Paris, the justices of the peace, and all others whom it shall 



32 RISE AND FALL 

concern ; their said majesties declaring, moreover, on their 
faith and word, as Emperor and King, that if the Tuileries 
is forced or insulted, that if the least violence, the least out- 
rage, is offered to their majesties the King and Q,ueen, and 
to the royal family, if immediate provision is not made for 
their safety, their preservation, and their liberty, they will 
take an exemplary and ever-memorable vengeance, by giving 
up the city of Paris to military execution and total destruc- 
tion, and the rebels guilty of outrages, to the punishments 
which they shall have deserved." 

These terrible menaces excited the Revolutionary ardor 
to the utmost degree. The thousands who had come in 
from the provinces to assist at the anniversary of the Fed- 
eration on the 14th of July, (the last time Louis XVI. was 
seen in public until he mounted the guillotine,) joined the 
Parisian volunteers organizing to oppose the invaders. In 
three days the capital raised, uniformed and armed forty- 
eight battalions of infantry, numbering 32,000 efficient men, 
who were at once marched off to the camp at Chalons-sur- 
Marne, their departure hastened by the Girondin faction, 
who wished to introduce a horde of their own creatures to 
rekindle the radical spirit and overawe the conservatives. 
Marseilles furnished a legion of twelve hundred turbulent 
spirits, many of them used to warfare and hardened by 
crime. Rendered fanatic, says Lamartine, by the climate of 
the Mediterranean, and the eloquence of the provincial 
clubs, they came on amidst the applauses of the population 
of central France — welcomed, feasted, overcome by en- 
thusiasm and wine at the patriotic banquets which hailed 
them in constant succession on their route. The Girondins 
went from Paris to meet them, and the sea of people which 
rolls unceasingly through the streets of that vast metropolis 
was violently agitated at their approach. The National 
Guard, the confederates, the popular societies, children, 
women, all that portion of the population which lives upon 
street excitement, follows processions and attends public 



OF LOUIS PlilLll»rE. 33 

spectacles, greeted the Marsellais. Their bronzed faces 
with eyes of fire, their uniforms covered with the dust of 
their journey, their red woollen caps, shaded with green 
boughs, the absence of discipline with which they either 
carried their muskets or dragged them after them, their 
harsh provincial accent mingled with oaths, their ferocious 
gestures — all struck the imagination of the multitude with 
great force. The revolutionary idea seemed impersonated, 
and to be marching to the last assault of Royalty, chanting 
an air whose notes seemed to come from the breast with 
sullen mutterings of national anger, and then with the joy 
of victory. It resounded through the streets of Paris like a 
recovered echo of Thermopylae ; and while those who heard 
it felt assured that France never would fall a prey to the 
invader, good citizens turned pale as they beheld the horde 
of ruffians who pealed it forth. 

The notes of this air, Lamartine goes on to say, rustled 
like a flag dipped in gore, still reeking on the battle plain. 
It made one tremble — but it was the shudder of intrepidity 
which passed over the heart, and lent it a fresh impulse — 
redoubled strength — e^en veiled death. It was the fire- 
water of the Revolution, which instilled the intoxication of 
battle into the senses and the soul of the populace. There 
are times when all people find thus gushing into their minds 
national sentiments which no man can describe, yet all the 
world have felt. All the senses desire to present their trib- 
ute to patriotism, and eventually to encourage each other. 
The foot advances, gesture animates, the voice intoxicates 
the ear, the ear rouses the heart — and the whole frame be- 
comes inspired like an instrument of enthusiasm. Art 
becomes divine — dancing, heroic — music, heroic — po- 
etry, popular ! The national hymn composed by Rouget de 
Lisle will never die, and should not be profaned on common 
occasions. Like that sacred oriflarae which was once de- 
posited in the church of St. Denis, only to be unfurled when 
France was in dano-er, so this stirring chant should be 



34 RISE AND FALL 

kept as an extreme arm for the great necessities of that 
country.* 

The Marseillaise produced its desired effect in Paris, and 
was soon the triumphant song of the mighty masses who 
stormed the Tuileries on the night of the 10th of August — 
that awful night, when the despotic monarchy of a thousand 
years went down, like some imposing ship of war, in the 
midst of hurricane and tempest, never again to raise its head 
in France. Its notes mino-led with the thunder of cannon 



* THE MARSEILLES HYMN. 

(freely translated.) 

Ye sons of Prance, awake to Glory, 
Hark, hark, what myriads bid you rise ! 
Your children, wives and grandsires hoary, 
Behold iheir tears and hear their cries ! 
Shall hateful Tyrants, mischief tireeding, 
With hireling hosts, a ruffian band, 
Affright and desolate the land, 
While Peace and Liberty lie bleeding ? 

CHORUS. 

To arms / to arms ye brave f 
y/i' Avenging- Sicord tmsheath I 
March on, march on — alt Ivearts resolved 
On Liberty or Death I 

Now, now the dangerous storm is rolling, 
Which treach'rous Kings confederate raise, 
The dogs of war let loose are howlmg, 
And lo ! our fields and cities blaze. 
And shall we basely view the rain, 
While lawless force with guilty stride 
Spreads desolation far and wide. 
With crime and blood his hands imbruiog? 

With luxury and pride surroi^nded, 

The vile, insatiate despots dare — 

Their thirst of gold and power unbounded — 

To mete and vend the liglit and air. 

Like beasts of burden would they load us, 

Like tyrants bid their slaves adore ; 

But man is man, and who is more? 

Nor shall they longer lash and goad us. 

O, Liberty ! can man resign thee, 
Once having fell thy g"enerous flame ? 
Can dungeons, bolls and bars confine thee. 
Or whips thy noble spirit tame ? 
Too long the world has wept, bewailing 
That falsehood's dagger tyrant's wield ; 
But Freedom is our sword and shield, 
And all their arts are unavailing. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 35. 

when the faithful Swiss guards were slaughtered ; it was the 
death song of the ruffians who cruelly butchered eight thou- 
sand Parisians between the 2d and the 7th of September ; 
and it was sung under the windows of the Palais Royal by 
the band of executioners who, having defiled the corpse of 
the Princess de Lamballe, bore her head in triumph upon a 
pike, the countenance still lovely, though the long auburn 
tresses were clotted with blood. The Duke of Orleans was 
sitting down to dinner at the time, with Madame de BufFon, 
his latest favorite, but rose from his chair and gazed at the 
ghastly spectacle without discovering the least symptom of 
uneasiness or horror. His position began to be an un- 
pleasant one, for while the court party shunned him, the 
revolutionists looked upon him with distrust. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OP ROBESPIERRE. 



P C Ju^ Vi^^fU/'i 



36 



RISE AND I'AIL 



CHAPTER V. 

Soon after the division of the army under Luckner arrived 
at Metz, that officer was superseded by Gen. Kellerraan, 
(created Duke of Valmy by Napoleon,) on whom Louis 
Philippe called to tender his respects, wearing his brigadier- 
general's uniform. " You are the youngest brigadier I 
have ever seen," said Kellerman ; " how have you contrived 
to be made a General so soon ?" To most young men of 
his age the inquiry would have been sufficiently embar- 
rassing, but Louis Philippe replied with promptitude and 
ready wit, — " By being the son of him who made a colonel 
of you." '* Well answered," said Kellerman, who had 
received his first commission from the Duke of Orleans, " I 
am happy to have you under my orders." 

He was entered on the roll as General Louis Philippe 
Egalite, and continued to manifest the most radical senti- 
ments of " Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." Entering 
a tent one evening where some of his dragoons were dis- 
cussing politics, one of them went out, and returned with 
an arm-chair, which he offered him. " Take it away," 
said the Prince, " though your General in military matters, 
we are equals in politics, I would rather eat the chair than 
sit in it." All this was duly reported at Paris, and on the 
11th of September, 1792, Louis Philippe was promoted to 
the rank of Lieutenant General, and offered the command 
of Strasbourg. "I cannot accept," was his reply, "for I 
am too young to be shut up in a city. I should prefer re- 
maining with the army." 

Hundreds of volunteers were daily leaving Paris for the 
camp at Chalons, which was placed under the command of 
Luckner, and appeared to make rather a show of strength 
than of resistance. The command of the armv on the 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



37 



frontier was given to Dumouriez, a soldier of fortune, pos- 
sessing rare mental and bodily accomplishments, and regard- 
ing the Revolution as a drama, which furnished a grand 
scene for his abilities. Could he conclude it by crowning 
the Duke of Orleans, he was certain of being created Grand 
Constable of France. While on his way to occupy the 
defiles of Argonne, where he hoped to check the advancing 
allies, he learned that Verdun had surrendered, and thus 
announced it to the Executive Council : " Verdun is taken, 
and I am waiting for the Prussians. The camp of Grand- 
prey and that of Islettes are the Thermopylae of France, 
but I shall be more fortunate than Leonidas." 

His next bulletin showed that he had been too confident. 
" I have been obliged," he wrote, " to abandon the camp of 
Grand-prey. The retreat was accomplished when a panic 
seized the army. Ten thousand fled before fifteen hundred 
Prussian hussars. The loss amounts to no more than fifty 
men and some baggage. All is retrieved, and I make 
myself responsible for every thing." By a masterly mancEuvre, 
he contrived to make a detour, which enabled him to take 
up his position in the rear of the Duke of Brunswick, and 
sent orders to Kellerman to join him. 

That General, who had left Metz on the 4th, arrived at 
Valmy on the evening of the 19th, where he encamped in a 
valley commanded by the heights of La Lune. Lieutenant 
General Valance commanded the right wing of his army, 
Louis Philippe the left, and General de Grassier the ad- 
vanced guard. In the morning it was found that a grand 
error had been committed in not having encamped on the 
heights of Gisancourt, which commanded those of La Lune, 
and towards which the Prussians were now moving ; for if he 
should be surrounded on high ground and beaten, he would 
be driven into the marshes behind the mill of Valmy. The 
vanguard, which had fallen back after a skirmish, was sent 
to occupy Gisancourt. The right wing was drawn up at 
right angles with the road to Chalons, along which it was 
4 



38 RISE AND FALL 

expected the Prussians would pass, while parallel to the 
road, and at right angles with the right wing, was the left 
wing, commanded by Louis Philippe. Whatever might 
have been the young General's desire to enter into action, 
it was eight o'clock ere he arrived at the post assigned him, 
near the windmill of Valmy. Two heavy batteries had 
been planted by the Prussians against this mill, one on the 
extreme end of the rising ground on which it was situated, 
the other on the opposite hill of La Lune, both of which 
opened a heavy cannonade about ten o'clock. The French 
suffered some loss, but returned the fire steadily, and there 
was but a moment's confusion, caused by the explosion of 
an ammunition wagon into which a shell was thrown. Louis 
Philippe, who had just dismounted, was thrown to the 
ground, but immediately re-mounting his horse, he rallied 
his men and restored confidence. 

The Duke of Brunswick had observed this disorder, and 
thought it a favorable moment for carrying the heights 
around the mill with the bayonet. Half an hour afterwards 
a thick fog, which had all the morning enveloped the two 
armies, cleared up, and the French beheld the Prussians 
advancing in three columns, with that formal precision 
which distinguishes German tactics. Kellerman feared the 
effect of so formidable an array upon his untried recruits, but 
formed them into numerous columns, a battalion in front, 
and ordered them to charge down upon the Prussians. The 
cry of " Vive la Nation " echoed through the ranks, and the 
French moved on with such a resolute bearing, that the 
Prussians fell back without awaiting them. 

Reinforced by the Austrians, the Prussians formed again 
after sunset, and deployed three times without making an 
attack, so that the battle has been since called the "Can- 
nonade of Valmy," as twenty thousand round shot were 
fired. Yet it was an important affair, for, as Alison ob- 
serves, it is with an invading army as with an insurrection 
— an indecisive action is equivalent to a defeat. The Duke 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 39 

of Brunswick no longer ventured to depise an enemy who 
had shown so much steadiness under a severe fire of artil- 
lery — the elevation of victory, and the self-confidence which 
insures it, had passed over to the other side. Gifted with 
an uncommon degree of intelligence, and influenced by an 
ardent imagination, the French, troops are easily depressed 
by defeat, but proportionally raised by success. The can- 
nonade of Valmy was the commencement of that en avant 
career of victory which terminated with sauve qui pent at 
Waterloo. 

Europe now gave credit for valor to those cobblers and 
tailors of whom the emigrant nobles had said the French 
army was composed, and their astonishment was heightened 
when after a few weeks vainly spent in endeavors to rally, 
the allies evacuated France, retreating before those " clowns" 
who were to have been whipped into subjection. Kellerman 
in his dispatches, rendered justice to the indefatigable zeal 
and bravery of Louis Philippe, and the courage of his 
younger brother, by saying : " Embarrassed by an attempt 
at selection, I shall only particularize among those who have 
shown distinguished courage, General Chartres, and his aid- 
de-carap. Monsieur Montpensier, whose extreme youth ren- 
ders his presence of mind, during one of the most tremen- 
dous cannonades ever heard, the more remarkable." 

The Minister of War again offered Louis Philippe a supe- 
rior command, but as he would then be stationed at Douay, 
away from the scene of warfare, jie again declined the pro- 
motion, preferring the camp to a comparatively easy life in 
garrison. Lamartine describes him at this time as one who 
" had been welcomed by the old soldiers as a prince, by the 
new ones as a patriot, by all as a comrade. His intrepidity 
did not carry him away ; he controlled it, and it left him 
that quickness of perception and that coolness so essential 
to a General ; amid the hottest fire he neither quickened nor 
slackened his pace, for his ardor was as much the effect of 
reflection as of calculation, and as grave as duty. His 



40 RISE AND FALL 

Stature was lofty, his frame well knit, his appearance serious 
and thoughtful. The elevation of his brow, the blue hue of 
his eyes, the oval face, and the majestic, though somewhat 
heavy, outline of his chin reminded every one strongly of 
the Bourbon family. The bend of his neck, the modest 
carriage, the mouth slightly drawn down at each corner, the 
penetrating glance, the winning smile, and the ready re- 
partee, gained him the attention of the people. His famil- 
iarity — martial with the officers, soldierly with the soldiers, 
patriotic with the citizens — caused them to forgive him for 
being a prince. But beneath the exterior of a soldier of the 
people lurked the arriere pensee of a prince of the blood ; 
and he plunged into ail the events of the Revolution with 
the entire yet skilful abandon of a master-mind ; and it 
seemed as though he knew beforehand that events dash to 
pieces those who resist them, but that revolutions, like the 
ocean's waves, often restore men to the spot whence they 
tore them. To perform that skilfully which the exigency 
of the moment required, and to trust to the future and his 
birth for the rest, was the whole of his policy, and Machiavel 
could not have counselled him more skilfully than his own 
nature. His star never lighted him but a few steps in ad- 
vance, and he neither wished nor asked of it more lustre, 
for his only ambition was to learn to wait. Time was his 
providence ; and he was born to disappear in the great con- 
vulsions of his country, to survive crises, outwit the already 
wearied parties, satisfy and arrest revolution. Men feared, in 
spite of his bravery and his exalted enthusiasm for his coun- 
try, to catch a glimpse of a throne raised upon its own 
ruins and by the hands of a republic. This presentiment, 
which invariably precedes great names and destinies, seemed 
to reveal to the army that, of all the leaders of the Revolu- 
tion, he might one day be the most useful or the most fatal 
to liberty." * 

* Lamartine's History of the Girondins. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 44 

Dumouriez was so impressed with the bravery and tact of 
Louis Philippe, that on a visit to Paris, soon after the battle 
of Valmy, he conferred with Danton on the propriety of 
relinquishing further attempts to secure the throne for their 
patron, the Duke of Orleans, and substituting his son. The 
next day Danton met Louis Philippe at the War Depart- 
ment, where he was complaining of a deficiency in the equip- 
ments furnished to his brigade, but was rather cavalierly 
listened to by Serran, the Minister. " Call on me to-mor- 
row," said Danton in an under tone, " I will procure you 
justice." Louis Philippe accordingly waited upon him, and 
received a caution not to criticise the massacre of Septem- 
ber, which the young soldier had openly said dishonored 
Liberty, adding that the army looked with horror upon exe- 
cutioners, for in their opinion blood should only be shed in 
battle — sentiments which he again firmly maintained. " You 
are too young to judge of such matters," replied Danton ; 
*' to comprehend them, you should be in our place, and for 
the future, be silent. Return to the army — do your duty 
— but do not rashly expose your life. You have many years 
before you. France does not love a Republic — she has 
the habits, the wants, and the weaknesses of a Monarchy. 
After our storms, she will return to one, brought back by 
her vices or her necessities. You will be her King ! Adieu, 
young man — remember the prediction of Danton." 

Thenceforth Louis Philippe made no more professions 
of Jacobinism ! 

Dumouriez was actively engaged, while at Paris, in polit- 
ical intrigues which have never been fully brought to light, 
but which are supposed to have been in favor of Louis 
Philippe. At any rate, on returning to the army, he intrusted 
him, the youngest of his generals, with the command of the 
right wing, consisting of twenty-four battalions of infantry. 
On the 5th of November, 1792, the French army found 
itself in presence of the Austrian forces, intrenched on tlie 
elevated ground around the city of Mons. On these heights 

4* 



42 RISE AND FALL 

are the three villages of Jemappes, Cuesmes, and Berthai- 
nionts, which had been strongly intrenched, while between 
them were redoubts, batteries, and other defences. Trees 
had been felled to obstruct the approach of cavalry, ravines 
so deepened and widened that the artillery could not cross 
them. Tyrolese sharp-shooters were in ambush, and a large 
body of hussars were posted in valleys, whence they could 
debouch upon the flank of the French troops, as soon as 
they should be thrown into confusion by the raking fire from 
the redoubts. 

Dumouriez's order of battle against this formidable posi- 
tion, directed the columns of Ferrand and Beurnonville 
against the enemy's right and left, with the hope of flanking 
him — Louis Philippe was to head the attack upon the 
almost impregnable centre. Strong proof this, according to 
Lamartine, that his chief desired to obtain a ray of glory 
for him, to exhibit him to France, and to point him to a 
destiny of which the political instinct of Dumouriez ap- 
peared to have a glimpse through the smoke of his first 
fields of battle. The army slept on their arms in full march- 
ing order, the artillery-men at their pieces, whose horses 
were harnessed, with their bridles in the drivers' bands. 
Aid-de-camps galloped to and fro, among them two delicate 
young girls, sisters, who wore the staff-uniform, and were the 
next day in the thickest of the fight.* Theopile de Fernig, 
the youngest of these Amazons, followed Dumouriez, but 
her elder sister, Felicite de Fernig, was ever by the side of 
Louis Philippe. 

The cannonade commenced at sunrise, and the attacks on 
the flanks of the Austrians were vigorously made, but with- 
out material success. At eleven o'clock Louis Philippe was 
ordered into action. Placing six battalions in reserve, with 
the eio-hteen others in columns, he drove in the Austrian 
light infantry at the point of the bayonet, and reached their 



* The Blademoiselles Fernig. Note B. 



«» OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 43 

redoubts, but there the fire of the artillery made such fear- 
ful havoc that they could not deploy into line. Some of the 
new levies faltered, and the Austrian hussars charging them, 
a general retreat seemed inevitable. 

But Louis Philippe, whose horse had been wounded, dash- 
ed into the thickest of the fight, and shooting down the colonel 
of Jhussars, endeavored to rally the fugitives. His example, 
the bravery of his staff", the shame the intimidated soldiers 
experienced at seeing the valor of Mademoiselle de Fernig, 
who, though only sixteen, fought with her bridle between 
her teeth, a sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other — 
had the desired effect. From the fragments of the battal- 
ions which clustered around Louis Philippe, he formed a 
single column, which he said should that day be called the 
battalion of Jemappes, on the morrow the battalion of Vic- 
tory, for it was in their ranks. Placing himself at its head, 
he ordered the trumpeters to sound a charge, and with the 
same soldiers, whose flight it was difficult to check a few 
moments before, attacked the Austrian infantry posted be- 
tween the redoubts, penetrated their ranks with the bayonet, 
and got possession of the enemy's artillery, which the Aus- 
trian cavalry in vain endeavored to carry back to Mons. 
From this moment victory was no longer doubtful, and 
prodigies of valor were multiplied in the French ranks. 
The enthusiasm of the French on this occasion has never 
been exceeded, even by themselves, elsewhere — and the 
martial spirit which displayed itself here in such brilliancy, 
bore down all obstacles. As they followed the brave young 
general to the successive attacks upon the redoubts, from 
whence showers of grape shot were poured in among them, 
they rent the air with shouts of *' Live the Republic," which 
uniformly passed into a grand chanting of the '* Marseil- 
laise." 

Driven from all their positions, the Austrians fled, and 
left the battle-field at Jemappes covered with their dead and 
their artillery. The sensation produced by this important 



44 RISE AND FALL ^p 

battle was prodigious throughout Europe, and at Paris 
nothing was talked of but the heroic coolness with which 
the Austrian artillery had been confronted, and the intre- 
pidity displayed in storming their redoubts. 

In 1838 Louis Philippe was present at a review, where, 
among other manoeuvres performed, was the formation of 
infantry squares to resist the charges of cavalry, with the 
officers and colors in the centre. He remarked in his ad- 
dress to the officers at the close of the exercises, that at 
Jemappes a charge of the Austrian hussars had compelled 
a part of his division to form similar squares, into one of 
which he threw himself, with his staff. " In the ranks of 
that square," said Louis Philippe, " were two private sol- 
diers, who are now here as superior officers, full of honors 
and years." One was Marshal Gerard, the other Marshal 
Soult. Amonor their victorious comrades were Davoust, Mo- 
reau, Serrurier, Mortier, Jourdan, Augereau, Maisons, Foy, 
and others of those leaders who bore in triumph through 
Europe, under the eagle of Napoleon, the tri-color under 
which they triumphed at Jemappes. 

Dumouriez pursuing the Austrians, Louis Philippe, who 
commanded the advanced guard, added new successes to 
his fame at Anderlacht, at Tirlemont, and at Varroux. On 
the fourteenth of November, Dumouriez took possession of 
Brussels, and on the twenty-eighth Louis Philippe marched 
triumphantly into Liege. 



4i 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 45 



CHAPTER VI. 

While Louis Philippe was thus winning laurels in the 
field, the Duke of Orleans was at Paris, striving to make 
himself forgotten in the bosom of the convention. Had he 
joined the emigrant nobility, insult, if not death, would 
have been his reward, for having repudiated his birthright, 
and plotted against that royal relative who had ever shown 
him favor. Among the revolutionists there still lingered the 
ineffaceable remembrance of his former existence, and the 
ever-present testimony of his immense wealth — the Jaco- 
bins tolerated him, but the Girondins boldly asserted that he 
lavished his wealth on anarchists, seeking to dislodge Louis 
XVL from the throne, that he might occupy it, or seat his 
son upon it. 

*' Let us put a stop to the intrigues at the Palais Royal," 
said Buzot one day in the assembly. "The monarchy is 
overthrown, but it still lives in the habits, in the memory, 
of its ancient creatures. Let us imitate the Romans. They 
expelled Tarquin and his family : like them let us expel 
the family of the Bourbons. One part of that family is in 
confinement; but there is another, far more dangerous, be- 
cause it is more popular — I mean that of Orleans. The 
bust of Orleans was paraded through Paris. His sons, boil- 
ing with courage, are distinguishing themselves in our ar- 
mies, and the very merits of that family render it dangerous 
to liberty. Let it make a last sacrifice to the country by ex- 
iling itself from her bosom ; let it carry elsewhere the mis- 
fortune of having stood near the throne, and the still greater 
misfortune of bearing a name which is hateful to us, and 
which cannot fail to shock the ear of a free man." Loud 
cheers burst from the oralleries as Buzot sat down, and 
many members testified their approbation. 



46 



RISE AND FALL 



Other Girondin orators seconded these remarks, one of 
them reminding the Duke of the voluntary exile of Colla- 
tinus, and exhorting him to follow his example. The Jaco- 
bins replied to them, rather out of opposition than because 
they were partisans of the Duke. " They maintained that 
it was not the moment to persecute the only one of the 
Bourbons who had conducted himself with sincerity towards 
the nation ; that they must first punish the Bourbon pris- 
oner, then frame a constitution, and afterwards turn their 
attention to such citizens as had become dangerous; that, 
at any rate, to send Orleans out of France was to send him 
to death, and they ought at least to defer that cruel measure. 
Banishment was nevertheless decreed by acclamation." * 
But when the decree was read, the name of the Duke was 
stricken out, because, as a representative of the people, it 
was asserted that he could not be sent from the nation to 
whose council he was attached. All the members of the 
family of Bourbon-Capet not in public service, (except the 
imprisoned Royal family,) were ordered to leave the depart- 
ment of Paris within three days, and the territory of the 
Republic within eight. 

This feeling against the Duke of Orleans was in a great 
measure brought about by Madame de Genlis, who was then 
in England with his daughter Adelaide. She wished to 
withdraw the Duke from Paris, and wrote a letter to Petion 
concerning the trial of the King, which was published in all 
the French newspapers, and created such a sensation in 
favor of the unfortunate Louis as to awaken the resentment 
of the faction led by Marat and Robespierre. The Duke 
refusing to join her, she returned to the Palais Royal, but 
arriving after the enactment of the decree, was forced to leave 
at once for Belgium, as Mademoiselle Adelaide had been 
included in the list of the proscribed. Louis Philippe came 
to escort them, and on the way they were overtaken by Lord 

* Thiers' History of the French Revolution. ; 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 47 

Edward Fitzgerald, who had fallen in love with Pamela 
Seymour, a beautiful girl who is supposed to have been the 
natural dauofhter of the Duke of Orleans and Madame de 
Genlis, and was educated with her pupils. They were mar- 
ried at Tournay, and two days afterwards set out for Ire- 
land, where Lord Fitzgerald was soon condemned to death 
as a political conspirator against the English yoke, and com- 
mitted suicide in his dungeon. 

Louis Philippe now pressed upon his father, in repeated 
letters, the propriety of retiring to the United States, but 
the Duke clung to his hopes until retreat became impossible. 
He also wrote a letter to the President of the Assembly, ex- 
pressing such strong sentiments against the coming trial of 
the King, that it would have been made the ground of an 
immediate impeachment of the Duke, had it not been ad- 
visable to keep the Jacobins and Gh'ondins united until 
Louis XVL was condemned to death. 

This fearful verdict was pronounced on the 17th of Jan- 
uary, 1793, some of the Deputies voting for " Imprison- 
ment," others for " Exile," others for " Death." Among 
the latter class was the Duke of Orleans ! He was the last 
called upon, and Lamartine says that this vote of the first 
prince of the blood, who had ever basked in the favor of the 
King, was so revolting to natural feeling, that a " shudder 
pervaded the benches and tribunes of the asssembly. The 
Duke descended from the tribune greatly disconcerted, and 
doubtful, from the appearance presented, of the act he had 
just perpetrated. The true heroism of liberty does not make 
the human heart shudder. We have no horror of that which 
we admire. Virtues like those of Brutus are so close akin 
to crime, that the consciences of republicans themselves 
are troubled in the presence of such deeds. To sacrifice 
nature to the laws appears beautiful at the first glance; but 
consanguinity is a law, and there is no virtue opposed to a 
virtue. If this vote were a sacrifice to liberty, the horror 
of the Convention must have convinced the Due d'Orleans 



48 . RISE AND FALL 

that the sacrifice was not accepted ; if it were a pledge, so 
vast a one was not required from him ; if it were a conces- 
sion to his safety, he paid too dearly for his life. Already 
assailed by the Girondists, scarcely tolerated by Robespierre, 
client of Danton, if he had refused any thing to the Moun- 
tain it would have demanded his head. He had not even 
elevation of soul to offer to it. Robespierre himself, in re- 
turning in the evening toDuplay's house, and conversing on 
the sentence passed on the king, seemed to protest against 
the Due d'Orleans' vote. ' The miserable man,' said he; 
* he was only required to listen to his own heart, and make 
himself an exception : he would not, or dare not do so. 
The nation would have been more magnanimous than 
he ! ' " 

Four days afterwards he saw his noble victim stripped 
and bound upon the scaiFold of the guillotine, and heard him 
say, in his clear, sonorous voice : " People, I die innocent 
of the crimes which are imputed to me 1 I pardon the au- 
thors of my death ! I pray that my blood may not fall upon 
France ! " .Here the drums were ordered to beat, and a 
long roll drowned the voice of the King and the sympa- 
thetic murmurs of the multitude. The assistants seized 
their victim and bound him to the fatal plank — it was 
thrown back between the grooves in which a bright axe de- 
scended — the head fell, and a noble soul was returned to 
its Creator by the hands of the executioner. " Son of Saint 
Louis," ejaculated the attendant priest, '^ ascend to Hea- 
ven ! " 

The executioner exhibited the head to the people, holding 
it by the hair, and sprinkling the blood which dropped from 
it about on the handkerchiefs held to receive it. The bands 
of confederates opened the veins of the headless corpse to 
dip the points of their swords in the blood of a King, and 
then marched through Paris shouting "Live the Republic." 
The dynasty of the Capets fell a victim to the war spirit 
which it had inspired in the heart of its subjects — the bells 



OF LOUIS PHILIITE. 49 

which had pealed forth joyous notes in honor of their tri- 
umphs, rang as merrily when Louis XVI. was beheaded — 
the oft victorious cannon of the Guards informed the en- 
virons that royalty was immolated in the person of that King 
to whom the artillery-men had sworn allegiance ! What 
were their echoes in the heart of the Duke of Orleans. 

Dumouriez was at Paris on this bloody day, shut up in 
the Rue de Clichy with Danton, to concert a plan for bring- 
ing his army against Paris to overawe the Assembly, and 
place Louis Philippe at the head of the government. In a 
few weeks his troops hailed his return, and he is represented 
as treating them like a parent restored to his children, 
adding respect to the affection he knew so well how to 
inspire, by the martial severity of his reprimands. Of 
45,000 well disciplined men, eighteen battalions were placed 
under the command of Louis Philippe, who had acquired 
new eulogiums and deserved praise at the siege of Maes- 
tricht under General Miranda, a Peruvian. 

The Prince of Coburg concentrated his force of 60,000 
men behind the village of Neerwinden, on the 18th of 
March, 1793, and Dumouriez determined to trust the 
chances of a battle to the impetuosity of his troops, hoping 
to take the enemy by surprise. Louis performed his part 
gallantly, carrying the village at the point of the bayonet, 
and after the Austrians took possession of it again, re- 
occupying it after a second engagement more desperately 
contested than the first. But the wings of the French were 
completely routed, and would have been totally destroyed, 
had not Louis Philippe, by extraordinary courage, succeeded 
in holding the enemy in check. His horse was killed under 
him, and he had two sabre combats, in both of which he 
disabled his adversary. Throughout the night he remained 
in the saddle, and by rallying the troops, prevented the re- 
verse of fortune which Dumouriez and his army expe- 
rienced, from becoming still more disastrous to the French 
army. 

5 



50 RISE AND FALL 

On the evening of the 22d, Dumouriez had an interview 
with General Mack, of the Austrian army, ostensibly for 
the purpose of concluding an armistice, but with the real 
view of advancing the cause of Louis Philippe. Thiers 
accounts for his conduct by the dark prospect of the career 
he was pursuing. If, a few months before, he foresaw 
success, glory and influence, in commanding the French 
armies, and if this hope rendered him more indulgent 
towards revolutionary violence — now, beaten, stripped of 
his popularity, and attributing the disorganization of his 
army to this same violence, he viewed with horror the dis- 
orders which he might formerly have regarded only with 
indifference. Bred in courts, having seen with his own 
eyes how strongly organized a machine is requisite to insure 
the durability of a State, he could not conceive that insur- 
gent citizens were adequate to an operation so complicated 
as that of Government. In such a situation, if a general, 
at once a warrior and a statesman, holds the power in his 
hands, he can scarcely fail to conceive the idea of employ- 
ing it to put an end to the disorders which haunt his thoughts 
and even threaten his person. The son of the deceased 
King was too young to be called to the throne, nor did regi- 
cide admit of so prompt a reconciliation with the dynasty. 
The two Generals agreed that Louis Philippe was the man. 

A delegation was sent to Dumouriez by the Assembly, 
but he refused to receive their representatives, and held sev- 
eral interviews with Mack. A second party, who brought 
an order for his arrest, were themselves arrested, and on 
the morning of the 4th of April, 1793, he set out with his 
staff to seek in foreign lands safety from a guillotine already 
saturated with the blood of the good and the brave. A di- 
vision of volunteers commanded by Marshal Davoust met, 
endeavored to stop them, and when they galloped across the 
fields, commenced firing upon them. Dumouriez had his 
horse killed, but Felicite Fernig dismounted and gave him 
hers. They all escaped, and repaired to the Austrian head- 
quarters at Mons. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 51 

A few days afterwards Lasource indirectly accused Dan- 
ton in the Assembly of having participated in the designs of 
Dumouriez to re-establish royalty. " I demand," said he, 
*' that a commission be named to discover and punish the 
guilty. The people have seen the throne and the capitol, 
let them now behold the Tarpeian rock and the scaffold. I 
demand moreover that Egalite and Sillery be arrested — and 
to prove to the Nation that we will never make terms with 
a tyrant, I demand that we all swear the death of him who 
shall attempt to -make himself King or Dictator." The 
whole Assembly rose and took the oath. 

A stormy debate took place, in which all factions en- 
deavored to clear themselves of the accusations of Orleans- 
ism, and to condemn the Duke for his son's defection, which 
afforded a pretext to the demagogues for the execution of 
their former leader. When Louis Philippe's letters to his 
father were first read in the Assembly, it was decreed, that 
Sillery, father-in-law of General Valence, one of Dumou- 
riez's officers, and Philippe Egalite, should be watched, and 
not permitted to leave Paris. Sillery, says Lamartine, sac- 
rificed by his friends, the Girondins, did not address a single 
reproach to them. " When it is in agitation to punish 
traitors," said he, turning toward the bust of the first of the 
Brutuses which decorated the hall, '' if my son-in-law be 
guilty, I am here before the image of Brutus." And he in- 
clined his head as a man who accepted an example and 
knew his duty. '' And I also," exclaimed the Prince, 
stretching out his hand toward the image of the Roman 
judge and murderer of his son, *' if I am guilty, I ought to 
be punished ; if my son be guilty, I behold Brutus ! " He 
obeyed the decree without a murmur. Whether he had fore- 
seen the price of his services, whether he had comprehended 
his false position in a republic which he disturbed in bowing 
to it, or whether his mind, wearied with agitation, had at- 
tained that impassability of minds without resource, the Duke 
of Orleans displayed neither astonishment nor weakness be- 



S^ RISE AND FALL 

fore the ingratitude of " La Montagne." He held forth his 
hand to his colleagues ; they refused to touch it, as if they 
feared the suspicion of familiarity with this great proscribed. 
He surrendered himself, escorted by two gendarmes, to his 
palace, now become his prison. Innocent or culpable, the 
Duke of Orleans embarrassed the two parties. 

The Duke was sent to the fort of Notre-Dame-de-la- 
Garde, a citadel built on a hill commanding Marseilles, with 
the Count of Beaujolais, his youngest son, the Duchess of 
Bourbon, his sister, and the Prince of Conti, his uncle. 
The Duke of Montpensier had been arrested in Italy, where 
he was on service, and the father and sons met in prison 
one year from the day on which they had congratulated 
each other on Louis Philippe's success at Jemappes, in the 
latter's tent. 

Lamartine speaks of the Duke of Orleans, at Notre-Dame- 
de-la-Garde, as contemplating " the dispersion of his rela- 
tives and his own fall as a spectacle to which he was really a 
stranger. Whether it were from a feeling that great revo- 
lutions devour their apostles, or whether a species of phi- 
losophy, without hope and without regret, caused him to 
receive as an inert being the shocks of destiny, his sensibil- 
ity was only aroused by the paternal feelings, which seemed 
to survive last in his heart. He inhabited at first the same 
apartment as his two sons ; he had the liberty of walking 
with them upon the terrace of the fort, whence his eyes, 
free at least, cast themselves from the height of the rock 
over the vast horizon of the Mediterranean, and down upon 
the motion and turmoil of Marseilles. On the fourth day of 
his detention, administrators and the officers of the National 
Guards entered his chamber at the moment when he was 
at breakfast with his two children." 

*' They intimated to him the order of separation from the 
Duke of Montpensier, whom they removed alone to another 
stage of the fortress. ' As to the youngest of your chil- 
dren,' said the officer charged with the execution of this 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 53 

order to him, 'he is permitted, from his tender age, to re- 
main with you ; but he will not be able to see his brother 
more,' The Prince in vain protested against the barbarity 
of this order. The Duke of Montpensier was torn, bathed 
in tears, from the arms of his father and brother, and drag- 
ged to another floor in the fortress." 

" Transferred, after a first interrogatory, to the fort St. 
Jean, a darker prison, at the extremity of the fort of Mar- 
seilles, their captivity, still more harsh, was deficient in air, 
prospect, and exercise. Three dungeons, placed one over 
the other in the thick walls of the same tower, confined the 
Prince and his two sons. The youngest, the Count of 
Beaujolais, was permitted to inhale the air outside for some 
hours in the day, under the surveillance of two guards. In 
descending to his promenade, the child passed before the 
door of his brother, which was situated below his own. 
The Duke of Montpensier pressed his face against the door, 
and the two brothers exchanged some rapid words across the 
fastenings and bolts. The sound of each other's voices af- 
forded them a moment's joy. One day, the Count of 
Beaujolais, in reascending, found the Duke of Montpensier's 
door open. The child escaped with abound from his guards, 
and rushed into the arms of his brother. The sentinels had 
some difficulty in separating them. For two months the 
brothers had never seen each other. Measures were taken 
against these surprises of tenderness, as if against a con- 
spiracy of malefactors. The one was thirteen, the other 
eighteen years of age." 

" Their father, lodged upon the same staircase, could 
neither see nor hear them. The desire of beholding closely 
a Prince of the blood, the author and victim of the Revolu- 
tion, now wearing the chains of the people he had served, 
continually attracted fresh visitors to the threshold of his 
cell. The Prince, upon whom solitude weighed heavier 
than captivity, and who found no society worse than his 
thoughts, sought not to withdraw himself either from the 
5* 



54 RISE AND FALL 

looks or interrogations of the curious. Each of them ap- 
peared to relieve him partly from the weight of heavy 
hours. One morning asking the jailor, who brought him 
his breakfast, what o'clock it was, he was heard by the Duke 
of Montpensier, who was in the passage-way, and who 
instantly replied : ' Nine o'clock, my dear Father ; how do 
you do this morning?' 'Ah, Montpensier,' replied the 
Duke, * I am glad to hear your voice again — it does me 
much good — but my health is very indifferent.' ' Silence 1 ' 
said the stern jailor, and closed the prison door." 

Meanwhile at Paris the guillotine was in constant use, 
surmounted by the scarlet cap of Liberty, whose presence 
was invoked by the sacrifice of hecatombs. Courageously 
did the Girondins endeavor to oppose the sanguinary Ter- 
rorists, but in vain, and on the 20th of October, 1793, 
twenty of them assembled around the festive board for the 
last time, in the fatal prison-hall of the Conciergerie — they 
were to be beheaded the next day at eleven o'clock. In one 
corner of the hall lay the yet warm corpse of one of their 
brethren, who had that day committed suicide before the 
Tribunal which had passed the fatal sentence, but the revel- 
lers were, says Thiers, alternately gay, serious, and elo- 
quent. Brissot de Warville presided at the funereal banquet, 
clad in the Quaker's garb which he had adopted with the 
Quaker's creed in Philadelphia, and in an impressive dis- 
course regretted that the pure republican doctrines he had 
transplanted from the Western Continent were to be washed 
away by a torrent of blood. 

"Ah, my friends," said Vergniaud, "we have killed the 
tree by pruning it. It was too aged : Robespierre cuts it. 
Will he be more fortunate than ourselves ? No ; the soil 
is too weak to nourish the roots of civic liberty : this people 
is too childish to wield its laws without hurting itself. It 
will return to its kings as babes return to their toys. We 
were deceived as to the age in which we were born, and in 
which we die for the freedom of the world. We deemed 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 55 

ourselves at Rome, and we were at Paris. But revolutions 
are like those crises which blanch in a single night the hair 
of a man, — they soon bring nations to maturity. Our 
blood is sufficiently warm to fertilize the soil of the republic. 
Let us not carry away with us the future ; and let us be- 
queath to the people hope, in exchange for the death we 
shall receive at their hands." 

The conversation now took a philosophical turn, and all 
appeared to meet death with the firm consciousness that 
their lives had been passed in endeavoring to promote the 
welfare of France, and that Christianity had no place in 
their hearts. Toasts were drunk, mirthful stories were min- 
gled with infidel reasoning, bumpers were drained in honor 
of bright eyes, and occasionally the festival was crowned by 
song, all joining in chorus, with the heroism of Indians at 
the stake. One of these sonors was in 1848 the funereal 
chant of Louis Philippe's reign.* 

* " Morir pour la Patrie " — a stirring Hymn, of which the following 
prosaic translation was given in the " Boston Transcript : " 

" By the voice of the alarm-gun, France calls her children. Let us go, 
cries the soldier : to arms ! it is my mother ; I defend her. To die for 
one's country, is a fate the most beautiful, the most worthy of envy. 

'* We, friends, who, far from battle, sink in obscurity, let us consecrate at 
least our obsequies to France, to its liberty. To die for one's country, is a 
fate the most beautiful, the most worthy of envy." 



FREE TRANSLATION. 

By the sound of her cannon alarming. 

Fair France to her children outcries ; 
Huzza ! cry the patriots, arming, 
'Tis the voice of our mother — arise ! 

For country and freedom to bleed, 
Is a lot to be envied indeed ! 

With arms for the strife — fierce and gory, 

Her mistress the lover supplies ; 
If he fall, the bright halo of glory 
Shall beam o'er his brow as he dies ! 

For country and freedom to bleed, 
Is a lot to be envied indeed ! 



56 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Girondins were executed on the 21st of Octobefj 
1793. Two days afterwards, the Duke of Orleans was 
summoned to Paris, to be tried before the Convention, and 
was condemned by that tribunal on the 6th of November, — - 
the conduct of his son forming one of the principal charges 
against him. Returning to his prison, whence he was 
to be taken the next morning to the guillotine, he burst forth 
into a furious tirade against Frenchmen. " The wretches !" 
he exclaimed ; " I have given them all — rank, fortune, am- 
bition, honor, the future reputation of my house, — and this 
is the recompense they reserve for me. If I had acted, as 
they accuse me, from ambition, how unhappy should I be 
at this moment ; but it was from a higher ambition than 
that of a throne, it was the ambition of the liberty of my 
country, and the felicity of my fellow-creatures. ' Vive la 
Republique!' that cry shall be heard from my dungeon, 
as it was from my palace." 

All the entreaties of two Catholic priests that he would 
confess, were repulsed with scorn, and we learn from Mont- 
gaillard that he breakfasted the next morning with an excel- 
lent appetite, consuming " some oysters, two cutlets, and the 
best part of a bottle of rich claret." His toilette was then 
made with great care in the English style ; green frock-coat, 
white vest, yellow buckskins and white top-boots ; nor did 
he evince the slightest uneasiness, but maintained his usual 
dignity of deportment. When the fatal hour arrived, he 
mounted into the cart with an impressive air, and gazed 
calmly on the crowd through which the escort with difficulty 
cleared a passage, while the execrations and insults which 
he heard from every side seemed to have no effect. Three 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 57 

Other victims, who were in the cart with him, were bent 
double, pale and stupified by horror, but the Duke stood 
upright, his head elevated, his countenance full of its natu- 
ral color, with all the firmness of innocence. " Why do 
we stop here 1 " he asked of the driver, as the cart, by a 
refinement of cruelty, stopped in front of the Palais Royal. 
No answer was made, and an eye-witness says that he ran 
his eyes over the building with the tranquil air of a 
master, examining whether any repairs were necessary, 
but they flashed fire as he read inscribed over the portal, in 
tri-colored letters : '' Republic One and Indivisible — Liberty, 
Equality — Fraternity or Death — National Property." 

The scaffold was erected near the spot where Louis XVL 

had been executed. On ascending it, the executioner's as- 

•sistant wished to draw off his boots, but the Duke said 

calmly — " No, no, they will come off better afterwards — 

let us hurry." These were his last words. 

With the execution of the Duke ended the connection 
between the House of Orleans and French politics, until the 
Bourbons were restored to the throne, — so it would be out 
of place here to take more than a parting glance at the va- 
rious governments which rapidly succeeded each other, — as 
in a temple in ancient Rome, where the murderer of the 
priest became his successor. Years of warfare, that evil 
school, had engendered a frightful indiflference to the Divine 
command, *' thou shalt not kill," and so lowered the stand- 
ard of morality, that the social bond was easily broken, and 
full sway was given to individual passions. The struggle de- 
veloped the abilities of many competent to govern, but after 
blazing in their orbits for a while, they were invariably 
jolted from the political firmament by the envy which genius 
ever attracts, or fell beneath the axe which they had so un- 
sparingly wielded, until the temple of French Liberty, like 
that of Juggernaut, was known by the immolated victims 
with which the road leading to it was overlain. And each 
successive set of rulers encouraged the war spirit ! 



58 



RISE AND J'ALL 



Faction after faction rose — struorarled — and fell. The 
Constituents were succeeded by the Girondins — the Giron- 
dins by the Terrorists — the Terrorists by the Thermidori- 
ans — the Thermidorians by the Directory — the Directory 
by the Consulate — the Consulate by the Empire ; and all 
these governments declared to France that war — war with 
some power or any power — was necessary to its political 
existence. The tri-colored flag, which had floated above 
the scaffold when Louis XVI. fell beneath the axe of the 
guillotine, and to protect which, Marat had called for the 
heads of " three hundred thousand aristocrats," was to be 
borne in glory abroad, in order to prevent anarchy at home. 

Brilliant, to those who worship before the shrine of mili- 
tary glory, was its flaunting career. Coalition after coali- 
tion — there were not less than seven of them — was formed 
among the principal continental powers ; but still the tri- 
color was triumphant, amid all changes, and against all 
opposition. Napoleon bore it as a conqueror throughout 
Italy, Pichegru throughout Holland, and Moreau along the 
banks of the Rhine. To put down this detested banner, 
which threatened to make the tour of Europe, and which 
had already revolutionized Switzerland and Naples, annihi- 
lated Venice, and been borne in the van of Macdonald's 
army to the gates of sacred Rome herself, the Czar dis- 
patched the victorious Suwarrow from the snows of Russia 
to the Alps, there to sustain a crushing defeat at the hands 
of Joubert and Massena — and England, from first to last, 
was engaged in a bloody war of twenty years, during which 
she added upwards of six hundred millions of pounds ster- 
ling to her national debt ! Still the tri-color was triumphant. 
It crushed Austrian Lombardy at Marengo — annihilated 
Prussia at Jena — and broke the heart of Pitt by its signal 
success at Austerlitz. At length came the period of its 
humiliation. In Spain — in Portugal — in Russia — at Leip- 
sic — in the heart of France itself — and finally at Waterloo — 
it was only raised to be lowered again, in token of abject 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 59 

defeat. Then, after having been furled for upwards of a 
quarter of a century, the white flag of the Bourbons, with 
its golden lilies, was again waving from the Tuilleries 

It is wrong to attribute this mad attempt to subdue Europe 
single-handed to Napoleon. His predecessors were more 
culpable, fostering the war spirit as they did for their private 
ends ; for they feared if peace were concluded, their tenure 
of office micrht be shortened — that new men and a new 
system of internal policy might find favor in the eyes of the 
nation. The sanguinary terror, galling reverses, and scarcely 
less oppressive' victories of the first French Revolution, as 
it was carried on under the influence of the war spirit, threw 
political liberty back half a century in the course of politi- 
cal improvement. France, after a mad worship of Mars 
and Moloch, was driven, in the end, to bow once more 
before the crowned idols of legitimacy. 

During this long and bloody crusade for equality, con- 
quest and fame, Louis Philippe was an exile ; nor is his name 
connected with the history of France until his return from 
America. 



FAC-SIMILE OF NAPOLEONE BUONAPARTE'S SIGNATURE WHEN LIEUTENANT. 




60 



RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER VII I. 

In April, 1793, Louis Philippe arrived at Cobleiitz, on the 
Rhine, where the throueless Louis XVIII. held his court, but 
was denied a reception, and passed up the river to Basle. 
Here he learned that Madame de Genlis and his sister were 
at SchafFhausen, where he joined them, and the two started 
for Zurich. Arriving there on the 8th of May, the magis- 
trates refused to grant them a resident's passport, for while 
the Helvetian aristocracy dreaded the presence of a Prince 
who had served in the Republican ranks with loud profes- 
sions of Jacobinism, the French royalist emigrants openly 
insulted him in the streets, exulting over the imprisonment 
of his father. In a few days they left for Zug, where, hav- 
ing assumed the incognito of an Irish family, they lived for 
some weeks in tranquillity, but having been recognized by 
an old officer of Marie Antoinette's household, the magis- 
trates were reproached for granting them an asylum, and 
requested that they would withdraw. 

A hundred romantic projects are said to have suggested 
themselves at this critical moment, for it was evident that 
they were marked objects of dislike. Count Gustavus de 
Montjoie, an old friend then at Basle, to whom they wrote 
for advice, came to give it in person, and after consulting 
with General Montesquiou of Geneva, it was decided that 
Mademoiselle Adelaide should be received into the convent 
of St. Clare at Bremgarten. " As for you," wrote General 
Montesquiou, " there is nothing left for you but to wander 
among the mountains, stay but a short time in any place, 
and continue this miserable mode of travelling until circum- 
stances prove more favorable. If fortune should ever be 
propitious, your life will be an essay, whose details will at 
some future day be collected with eagerness." 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 61 

General Dumouriez was of the same opinion. " Em- 
brace," he wrote to General Montesquiou, " our good 
young friend for me. May he gain both instruction and 
fortitude from his present misfortunes. This insanity will 
soon pass away, and he will then occupy his proper place in 
society. Urge him to keep an accurate diary of his travels. 
It will be novel to see the journal of an Orleans devoted 
to other subjects than the chase, women, and the pleas- 
ures of the table. I am also delighted to think that this 
work, which he can finish by and by, will serve as a sort of 
certificate of his life, and be of essential service to him, 
either in resuming or regaining his station. Princes should, 
as you say, produce Odysseys rather than Pastorals." 

Louis Philippe sold all his superfluous effects and only 
retained one horse; so that after paying his debts with 
the proceeds, he found he possessed nearly four hundred 
dollars. He would also have dismissed his only remaining 
servant, Baudoin, but that faithful follower persuaded him to 
let him partake of the sorrows of a persecuted exile, though 
he was taken so ill that when Louis Philippe left Basle it was 
on foot, leading the horse upon which his retainer was 
mounted.* He passed for a French lawyer, who was trav- 
elling to gather mineralogical specimens, and often had 
many curious ones given him, which were thrown into the 
next brook he passed over, instead of being sent to Paris, as 
the donors credulously believed. 

Most of the principal spots of interest in Switzerland 
were visited in their turn. The former residences of Rous- 
seau and Voltaire, the ruins of Hapsburg Castle, whose 
owners have so long sat upon the Austrian throne, and the 
chapel where Tell, after escaping from Gessler's boat on the 
Lake of Lucerne, lay in wait for the tyrant behind a tree, 

*Most of the details of Louis Philippe's travels, while in exile, are taken 
from his life, by Messrs. Laugier and Charpentier, of the Historical Insti- 
tute of France, and General Cass's " France, its King, Court and Govern- 
ment." 



62 RISE AND FALL 

and shot him with his unerring arrow as he passed, were 
particularly noted in his journal. It also contains many 
valuable notes on the increase of the glaciers, and on the 
avalanches, which show that he carefully explored 

"The Alps 
Those palaces of Nature, whose vast walls 
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, 
And throned Eternity in icy halls 
Of cold sublimity." 

On the evening of the 29th of August, 1793, after toiling 
all day up a zigzag road, carrying their heavy knapsacks, 
Louis Philippe and Baudoin found themselves in a desolate 
valley, some seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
Lofty snow-clad peaks towered up all around. There was 
no vegetation, and the only sign of humanity was the 
Monastery of St. Gothard, inhabited by monks, who reside 
in this cheerless spot to assist travellers. *' Che volete " — 
what do you want? asked a monk in Italian from the case- 
ment, when Louis Philippe pulled the bell. "I wish re- 
freshment and beds for myself and my companion." " You 
cannot have it here," replied the monk ; " we do not receive 
pedestrians, particularly travellers of your class." " But, 
reverend Father, I have money enough to pay for what we 
may have, even though we may not look very smart." " No, 
no," replied the capuchin, " this is no place for you, go to 
the out-building," and he closed the casement. There was 
no alternative, and the future King of the French was 
forced to sleep on straw, in a miserable loft over the stable, 
set apart for the muleteers and chamois hunters. 

Some weeks after, in the little town of Gordona in the 
Gordons, he was again refused admittance by the landlady 
of a tavern, who would not lodge such ragged and ill-looking 
wanderers. However, as it was very stormy and nearly 
night, she permitted them to sleep in her barn, after much 
importuning. Fatigued, and unable to proceed farther, the 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 63 

Prince thankfully laid himself down upon some straw, and 
slept soundly until daylight, when he was awakened by the 
monotonous sounds of footsteps pacing up and down near 
him. Opening his eyes, he saw to his utter astonishment a 
young peasant armed with a musket, keeping guard at his 
side, who coolly replied, on being asked why he thus 
stood sentry — " My aunt placed me here, with orders to kill 
you if you made any attempt to rob us; she is as suspicious 
a body, you must know, as she is stingy." Louis Philippe 
could, not help laughing, but immediately paid the stipulated 
sum for his wretched accommodation, and dismissed his 
body guard. 

Crossing the Lake Luzerne, he found on board the ferry- 
boat a French priest, who had no money, and who would 
have been ducked by the boatman for his fare, had Louis 
Philippe not paid it. There was also a merchant on board, 
who entered into conversation with the passengers, informing 
them that his name was Mauseda, and that he was an opti- 
cian connected with an establishment in the Palais Royal of 
Paris. He spoke very familiarly of the Duke of Orleans, to 
whom he said he often sold spectacles, and then, to the 
momentary embarrassment of Louis Philippe, asserted that 
he was well acquainted with all the members of his family. 
Little did he think that the young man before him, with 
threadbare garments, a staff in his hand, and a knapsack on 
his back, was the Duke of Chartres. 

At Luzerne he received a letter from General Montesquiou , 
informing him that there was a vacant professorship in the 
College of Reichenau, — a Mr. Chabaud, who was to have 
taken it, not having arrived. Louis Philippe determined to 
accept it, as the best way of preserving his incognito, and of 
adding to his slender pecuniary resources ; and presented 
himself to Mr. Aloyse Jost, the director of the college, as a 
candidate. He passed a strict examination, and on the 10th 
of October, 1793, was received as Professor of Mathematics, 
the French Language, Geography and History. Though only 



64 RISE AND FALL 

twenty years of age, he conformed with cheerfulness to hard 
fare, early hours, college rules and strict discipline, every one 
except Mr. Jost, thinking him the real Mr. Chabaud. While 
thus engaged, Louis Philippe learned the tragic end of his fa- 
ther, and after fulfilling his duties for eight months with scru- 
pulous punctuality and care, he determined to visit his sister, 
who was about to leave Bremgarten for Hungary, to reside 
with her aunt, the Princess of Conti. At parting, the stu- 
dents gave him a snuif-box in testimonial of their respect, 
and from the officers of the college he received a certificate, 
acknowledging the useful services he had rendered to the 
institution. It will be long, says General Cass, before the 
House of Orleans receives, in the person, of one of its mem- 
bers, a reward more worthy the regard of every man inter- 
ested in the dignity of human nature. Neither was it 
merely as an instructor that he was successful, for such was 
the esteem in which he was held by the villagers, that he 
was elected Deputy from Reichenau. 

Louis Philippe, now Duke of Orleans, left for Bremgar- 
ten on foot, and was met a few miles from the convent by his 
faithful Baudoin, whom he had sent in advance to reconnoi- 
tre, fearing that he might be received as at St. Gothard. 
" Come on, Monseigneur," said he, " you need not fear — 
. we shall make a better supper here than with those rascally 
monks, for I have heard the turning of a spit, and smelt 
roast chicken, which is far more savory than the cheese 
which the muleteers gave us." After his sister Adelaide's 
departure, Louis Philippe resided with General Montesquiou 
until 1794, under the name of Corby, and with the title of aid- 
de-camp, engaged in schemes for establishing a constitutional 
monarchy at Paris. Some of his letters were intercepted, 
and only served to increase the suspicion with which he was 
regarded at Paris, by those terrible and ever-changing rulers 
who, at that era of desperate energy, governed and died in 
blood. 

Accidentally overhearing a conversation between General 



OF LOUIS PIIILIPrE. G5 

Montesquieu and a visitor, he found that he was not only in 
danger himself, but that the hospitality he received miorht 
prove fatal to his host. Unwilling to expose his generosity 
to further peril, he determined to leave for Hamburg, where 
Madame de Genlis was residing, and thence embark for the 
United States. Conversing with the commercial agent of 
the United States at Hamburg on his arrival there, he found 
that the small allowance with which he was furnished by his 
uncle, the Prince of Modena, would not permit him to take 
so distant an expedition, and he was forced to postpone it. 

Hamburg was, however, no place for him to remain in, as 
he was recognized every time he appeared in public. One 
day an old Royalist refugee, a bad specimen of a good race, 
openly insulted him, and accosting him in the public streets, 
demanded, "What right the son of a regicide had to meet 
the victims of his father's atrocious conduct, and why he 
did not hide his head in obscurity or the dust?" Louis 
Philippe, who was unprepared for this unprincipled and 
ungentlemanly attack, fell back a few paces, regarded his 
adversary with a look of stern dignity, and then said, " Sir, 
if I have either offended or injured you, I am prepared to 
give you satisfaction, but if I have done neither, what will 
you one day think of yourself for having insulted in a for- 
eicrn land a prince of fallen fortunes, and an honest and 
independent young man?" On another occasion at Ham- 
burg, Louis Philippe — appealed to for relief by a former 
dependant on the bounty of his father '' Egalite," but who 
had rushed from Paris to save his life, and had arrived at 
the city in question — explained to him that his means were 
so limited, and his expectations of assistance so scanty, that 
he really had not the power of doing all he could desire, 
for one whom his father and mother had regarded with re- 
spect and pity. " But," added he, " I have four louis left, 
take one of them; when I shall replace it I know not; 
make the best use you can of this — we live in times when we 
must all economize." The poor, exiled, disconsolate old 
6* 



66 RISE AND FALL 

man was so struck with this proof of generosity, and of filial 
respect for the object of his father's and mother's bounty, 
that he declined receivinor so much as one out of four louis 
from the Prince's hands ; but Louis Philippe took to flight, 
and left the unhappy exile weeping with joy and gratitude. 

The Scandinavian peninsula appeared to Louis Philippe 
a desirable field of travel, as it was not only well worthy of 
interest, but could be visited at little expense, and was so 
far from France, and so little frequented by French emigrants, 
that he would be secure from malicious pursuit. Passing 
by Jutland to Copenhagen, a banker on whom he had a 
letter of credit, made out in favor of Monsieur Corby, a 
Swiss traveller, procured for him under that name a Danish 
passport, which included his friend Count Montjoie and 
Baudoin. 

Elsineur was their first stopping-place, where they visited 
the garden of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, immortalized by 
Shakspeare's genius. They then took a packet-boat for 
Gottenburg, whence they left on foot for Norway, stopping 
to admire the picturesque cascades of Goetha-Elf and the 
stupendous canal commenced two centuries ago, at Trollhae- 
than, to connect the waters of the North Sea with the Gulf 
of Bothnia. Crossing the frontier, the party stopped at 
Frederickshall, where Charles XIL was killed. How little 
did Louis Philippe then think that future writers would 
apply to him the last two lines of Dr. Johnson's stanza, 
describing the close of that ambitious monarch's life : — 

" His death was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand ; 
He left a name at which the world grew pale, 
To point a moral or adorn a tale." 

Christiana was for some time the exile's residence, and 
among Louis Philippe's friends was the Rev. Mr. Monod, an 
enlightened French Protestant clergyman, whose urbanity 
and gentleness his successors are said to have lost. He 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 67 

regarding Louis Philippe as Mr. Corby, their conversa- 
tions turned to French democracy, and on one occasion, 
allusion having been made to the late Duke of Orleans, he 
observed: "I have been accustomed to hear much that is 
disffustinof and revoltinjr of the late Duke of Orleans, but 
I cannot help thinking that he must have had some virtues 
mixed up with his evil propensities, for no reckless or worth- 
less man could have taken so much pains with the educa- 
tion of his children. His eldest son, I have been assured, 
is the model of filial affection as well as of all the virtues." 
Louis Philippe felt his cheeks suffused with blushes, and M. 
Monod perceived it. " Do you know him, then ? " asked 
M. Monod. *' Yes I do, a little," was the reply, ^* and I 
think you have somewhat exaggerated his praises," 

The next time the venerable Protestant pastor saw him, 
Louis Philippe was in his own palace at the Palais Royal ! 
M. Monod was at the head of the Protestant Consistory of 
Paris, and was visiting the illustrious Prince to congratulate 
him on his return to his native country. When the cere- 
mony was over, the Duke called M. Monod aside, and asked, 
" How long it was since he had quitted Christiana ? " " Oh ! 
many years," replied the excellent man ; " it is very kind of 
your Royal Highness to remember that I was ever an inhabi- 
tant of that city." '' It is more, then, M. Monod, than you 
remember of me ! " " Was your Royal Highness, then, 
ever an inhabitant of Christiana?" asked the astonished 
pastor. "Do you remember M. Corhy — the young Cor- 
by 7 " inquired Louis Philippe ] *' Most certainly I do, and 
I have frequently sought for some intelligence with regard 
to him, but could procure none." " Then I was M. Corby," 
replied the Duke. The rest of the conversation can be 
easily imagined. Louis Philippe was much attached to the 
admirable M. Monod, to the hour of his death, and some 
of his affection for Protestant families, Protestant commu- 
nities, and the Protestant clergy, can unquestionably be 
traced to the influence exercised by that gentleman over his 
mind. 



68 RISE AND FALL 

On another occasion while at Christiana, his equanimity 
was disturbed, and at first he feared he was discovered. It 
is the custom of the inhabitants at the proper season, after 
having breakfasted, to go into the country, and there pass 
the residue of the day. After one of these excursions, 
when the family where the stranger had been received was 
preparing to return to town, he heard the son exclaim with 
a loud voice — " The carriage of the Duke of Orleans ! " 
He was recognized without doubt — but how could it be? 
Preserving his self-possession, however, and perceiving that 
the young man did not regard him, he was anxious to learn 
the cause of this singular annunciation. " Why," said he, 
smiling, " did you call the carriage of the Duke of Orleans, 
and what relations have you with the Prince 1 " '^ None, 
indeed," answered his Norwegian friend ; " but while at 
Paris, whenever we issued from the opera, I heard repeated 
from all quarters, ' The carriage of the Duke of Orleans ! ' 
I have been more than once stunned with the noise, and I 
just took it into my head to make the same exclamation." 

Continuing his tour, Louis Philippe stopped some time at 
Drontheim, where Baron de Kroth, the Governor, loaded 
him with kindness, and thence pursued his way along the 
coast of Norway as far as the Gulf of Saltdam, the scene of 
that famed Maelstrom, which swallows up every thing drawn 
within its vortex. Chartering a fishing-boat, he passed into 
the outer circles, greatly to the alarm of his boatmen, who 
implored him on their knees not to seek to gratify his curi- 
osity farther. 

Leaving Saltdam with a barber's boy by the name of 
Holm, from Iceland, as his guide and interpreter, Louis 
Philippe traversed Lapland, and saw a new race of men, 
quite different from their Norwegian and Swedish neighbors. 
Sleeping in their humble tents, and travelling on sledges 
drawn by reindeer, his spirit of enterprise led him north- 
ward, until, on the 24th of August, 1795, he reached the 
North Cape, the Ultima Thule of the ancients. He was 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 6^ 

thus within eighteen degrees of the north pole, and five 
degrees nearer to it than Maupertuis, who had been employed 
by the King of France to measure a degree of the meridian 
within the polar circle, or the Poet Regnard, who had 
cut upon a rock which marked the termination of his 
journey, — 

" Hie tandem stetimus nobis ubi deficit orbis." 

The Duke remained some time in this country. It was a 
source of pleasure to him to question the inhabitants, and 
to study from the details they furnished him, their manners, 
their customs, and the singular characteristic of their 
climate, so diiferent from ours, the sun, in his annual 
course, offering to man and to vegetation but one day of six 
months, and one night of the same duration. Clothed like 
them with a sort of tunic, which, after the fashion of the 
Norwegian sailors, he wore constantly, and which they call 
a koufte, the Prince visited the ordinary tents of the Lap- 
landers. These tents were made by inclosing a number of 
poles placed in a circle with a covering called vahnar, so 
that the fire might be made in the middle of the tent, and 
the smoke pass out through a hole in the top. He likewise 
visited those stone dwellings something like ours, which are 
called in the Lapland tongue, Kodeki, and which have, like 
the tents, a hole in the top to let out the smoke. Impelled 
by the same feeling of curiosity, he looked into those little 
barracks mounted on poles, like pigeon houses, which served 
the Laplanders as a depot for provisions during the winter. 
They are thus elevated above the ground, so that the provi- 
sions will not be buried up with the snow, and the wild 
beasts are unable to clamber after them. The bears are the 
only animals who can get at them. These animals, by 
breaking the poles that support these safes, cause them to 
fall, and then tearing them in pieces, secure for themselves 
the dry meat which they find there.* 

* Laugier's and Charpentier's Life of Louis Philippe. 



70 RISE AND FALL 

Passing through Swedish Lapland a second time, Louis 
Philippe descended to Toraco, traversed a part of Finland 
to examine on the spot the theatre of the last war between 
the Russians and Swedes under GustavusIIL, and advanced 
to the river Kymene which separated Sweden from Russia. 
But here he stopped ; for though he was an ardent traveller, 
he was a Frenchman ; and as the animosity of Catherine IL 
was not merely directed against the revolution, but against 
France and her sons, he resolved not to pass the Kymene, 
but to visit Stockholm, and remain at least where he would 
be free alike from the risk of the knout, and from the chance 
of beino; sent to Siberia. 



FACSIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF MARSHAL SOULT. 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 71 



CHAPTER IX. 

Arriving at Stockholm, (Laugier goes on to say,) 
about the end of October, Louis Philippe remained unsus- 
pected until his curiosity to be present at a grand ball given 
at the Court, in honor of the birth of Gustavus II., King 
of Sweden, determined him to profit by a ticket, which his 
banker had procured him for admission to the gallery of the 
saloon. He had been there but a short time, when a master 
of ceremonies came to conduct him to the hall where the 
Court were congregated. This circumstance made him 
suspect that he had been discovered. In fact, M. de Rivals, 
the French envoy to Sweden, having observed the Prince in 
the ball-room, said to the Chancellor, the Count de Span, 
" You have kept one of your secrets from me ; you did not 
tell me that you harbored here the Duke of Orleans." The 
Chancellor, surprised, could scarcely credit it. '' Neverthe- 
less it is true," said M. de Rivals ; " there he is up in the 
gallery." 

This being known, the Count de Span assured Louis 
Philippe that the King and the Duke of Sudermania, then 
Regent, would be delighted to see him. They received the 
Duke of Orleans with every mark of attention, and were 
prodigal of their generous offers, and gave the necessary 
directions that he might visit whatever he thought worthy 
of his notice throughout the kingdom. This last proffered 
kindness, Louis Philippe accepted. Quitting Stockholm, he 
visited the ruins of Dalecarlia, and afterwards Sahla, Afre- 
sested, Saeter, Ormes, and the house in which, in 1520, 
Gustavus Vasa was concealed when pursued by the emissa- 
ries of Christiern. 

This house, which was truly remarkable in its construe- 



t^ RISE AND FALL 

tion, had been preserved without any aheration. The stairs 
were on the outside, the chamber which Gustavus occupied 
was in the second story. It was quite large, and formed a 
perfect square. On each side of the door were his two 
faithful Dalecarlians, clothed in a stuff of white wool, armed 
cap-a-pie, with their sugar-loaf hats after the fashion of 
that day. By their side, and near the bed, stands the faith- 
ful servant who followed Gustavus. Here is also the genea- 
logical tree of his family. On the walls of the room hang 
a few bad portraits of the Kings and Queens of Sweden 
since the reign of Gustavus. Here may be seen the closet 
in which he concealed himself, and from which he escaped, 
to effect the meeting at Mora. 

He descended into the famous copper mines of Fahlun, 
where at a great depth there are subterraneous villages ; he 
saw those good and brave people, who had preserved in their 
purity the manners and customs of their forefathers; he 
examined the great stone of Mora, on which Gustavus Vasa 
stood when he solicited the Dalecarlians to march against 
the ferocious Christiern, the Nero of the North. The 
French Prince thus proscribed, slept tranquilly in this place 
which had so long served the Swedish hero as a place of 
refuge. What emotions did the thoughts of Gustavus 
awaken in his bosom, escaping by a miracle from his exe- 
cutioners, compelled to bury himself alive in the bowels of 
the earth, and planning, in the depths of his retreat, the 
freedom of his country ! As it has been remarked, these 
two illustrious exiles left this farm of Mora, to become at 
different epochs, the one, King of Sweden, and the other, 
King of the French. 

Louis Philippe was unwilling to quit Sweden without 
first visiting the splendid arsenal of Carlscrona, where 
in vast basins cut out of the solid rock, forming a dry 
dock, vessels could lie either for their preservation or 
while undergoing the necessary repairs. The Court offered 
to conduct him there, with all the honors due to his rank. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 73 

Unaccustomed to such homage for so long a time, he re- 
fused it, and repaired to Carlscrona as a stranger. The 
Governor to whom he addressed himself, informed him that 
strangers could on no account be admitted. Accustomed 
to similar disappointments the Prince was about to retire, 
when a courier, sent expressly by the Regent, came to coun- 
termand the rigorous order. All the gates were opened to 
the French exile, whom the Governor eagerly accompanied, 
in order to give all the necessary explanations. The Gov- 
ernor put a great many questions to the Prince, with the hope 
that he might betray his incognito, but without success ; for 
notwithstanding his desire to discover who the traveller was, 
to whom the Court had shown such distinguished favor, 
he knew not whom he had the honor to receive and accom- 
pany. The Prince repassed the Sound, and returned by 
the way of Copenhagen and Lubeck to Hamburg in 1796. 
Unfortunately this sojourn in the northern kingdoms of 
Europe had not bettered his condition, either politically or 
in a pecuniary point of view, and he found himself without ' 
resources. 

The fate of his brothers, however, was his greatest source 
of unhappiness, for he feared that they would be condemned 
to an ignominious death. Indeed, Montpensier's last letter 
had contained a ruffianly speech made in his hearing by one 
of the sovereign people : " Ah ! we have cut down the tree, 
the old trunk, but that is only doing half the work. We 
must cut up the roots, or the tree may be seen sprouting 
at some future time." 

In the same letter the imprisoned Prince related that one 
morning their aunt, the Duchess of Bourbon, entered their 
chamber, saying, — "I hope," said she to them, " you are 
prepared for the terrible misfortune that religion alone can 
aid you to support in a proper manner. Read this letter 
which your mother has written." 

The letter contained these few words in large characters 
and much disfigured : " Live, unhappy children, for your 
7 



74 RISE AND FALL 

unhappy mother ! " " My aunt," said the Duke de Mont- 
pensier, " what means this heart-rending intelligence ? 
What has become of my father ? " " You have no longer a 
father," was the reply. 

The two brothers, after the death of their father, thought 
often of the means of making their escape. Finally they 
concluded a bargain with a captain of an Italian ship bound 
to Leghorn. On the day fixed for their departure, the 18th 
of November, 1795, about six o'clock in the evening, the 
Count de Beaujolais left his chamber first, after agreeing to 
wait for his brother in the harbor, and to send a boat for him 
at the foot of the tower in case he should not see him 
arrive. Five minutes after, the Duke de Montpensier fol- 
lowed him, passed four sentinels without being stopped, 
gained the bridge, and already believed himself at liberty. 
All at once he met the commandant of the fort who was 
cominor home, and who thus accosted him : " Where are 
you going ? You are the elder Orleans ; if you do not in- 
stantly return, I shall call the guard and cause you to be 
seized." " I am going to the play," replied the Prince, " as 
I have many times done, without your knowledge ; but since 
I have been so unfortunate as to meet you, I shall this even- 
ing be deprived of that pleasure." So saying, he sadly 
mounted the stairs followed by a corporal and a fusileer. 

After entering his chamber, which faced the sea, he tied 
a cord to the window and let himself down. When about 
lialf way down, about thirty feet above the sea, the rope 
broke, and he fell senseless. On recovering his senses, 
the moon was shining clear, and he found himself waist 
deep in the sea. After waiting some time for the boat 
which the Count de Beaujolais was to send, he determined 
to cross the harbor by swimming. He then perceived that 
his foot was injured, and that he lacked strength. Scarcely 
had he made five or six strokes, when he reached the chain 
which extended across the harbor, and rested there. For 
two hours he remained resting upon the chain : seven boats 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 75 

passed by ; he supplicated each one, and made them liberal 
offers. " It is too late," said one, '' We have no time," said 
another, and they continued on. They all had made similar 
answers to the Count de Beaujolais, in spite of all his offers. 
Finally a boatman, more compassionate than the rest, came 
to him, and took him half dead into his boat, and rowed to 
the harbor. At the instant they reached the bank, a by- 
stander exclaimed, — " Ah, it is one of the Orleans family ! 
He was making his escape." Immediately the guard were 
called. " Why did you attempt to escape ? " demanded 
they after many other questions. " To free myself," replied 
the Duke, " from the atrocious tyranny, under which I 
have groaned for three years, and to recover my liberty, of 
which they have no right to deprive me." " What has 
become of your brother V "I know not, — I hope that, 
more fortunate than me, he has escaped from your hands, 
and you will see him no more." The Count de Beaujolais 
had in fact deceived all his guards, but learning the misfor- 
tune of the Duke de Montpensier, he came voluntarily 
back to his chains to share his brother's misfortunes. 

Added to the uncertain fate of his brothers, Louis Philippe 
could not but think that his loved mother and sister were 
exiles from their home, that General Biron and other devoted 
friends had been beheaded, and that he, the often scouted 
son of a regicide, was branded as a traitor, accused of 
having by his plots thus brought ruin upon his family, and 
was almost a destitute wanderer on the face of the earth. 



76 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER X. 

The Directory who ruled France, dreading the presence of 
Louis Philippe in Europe, had in vain endeavored to trace 
his steps, and the mystery in which he had enveloped himself 
but increased their suspicion of his designs. At last 
they resorted to the expedient of offering to his mother 
to liberate her two sons from their captivity at Marseilles, 
provided Louis Philippe would embark with them for the 
United States, and upon their arrival there to annul the act 
of sequestration against her property. The Duchess at once 
assented to this proposition, and gave to an agent of the 
Directory a letter to Louis Philippe, which, after recom- 
mending a compliance with the terms proposed, concluded 
by saying : — '• May the prospects of relieving the sufferings 
of your poor mother, of rendering the situation of your 
brothers less painful, and of contributing to give quiet to 
your country, recompense your generosity ! " 

For two months the bearer of this letter sought in vain 
for Louis Philippe, assisted by the French Minister at the 
Hanseatic cities, and he was just on the point of returning 
to Paris, when he learned that Mr. Westford, a merchant at 
Hamburg, could give him the desired information. Unwil- 
ling to betray his secret, this faithful friend received with 
proper incredulity the declaration of the French agent, 
that his object in opening a communication with Louis 
Philippe was to convey to him a letter from his mother, on 
the part of the Directory, and disclaimed all knowledge of 
his actual residence. He, however, immediately communi- 
cated to Louis Philippe a statement of what had taken 
place, and the latter determined to risk the exposure, in 
the hope of receiving a letter directly from his mother. 
He was at that time at Frederickstadt, in the neighborhood 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 77 

of Hamburg, though in the Danish States, where he had 
changed his residence from time to time, as a due regard 
to secrecy required. An interview was arranged by Mr. 
Westford at his own house, between Louis Philippe and the 
French agent, where they met in the evening, and where, 
after the receipt of his mother's letter, he signified at once 
his acceptance of the terms proposed, and his determina- 
tion to embark for the United States without delay, that his 
brothers might be liberated. Besides, he was well aware, 
that a refusal on his part would first be followed by more 
arbitrary measures against his mother and brethren — then 
by an active system of espionage exercised against himself 
— and, finally, by applications from the then French gov- 
ernment to foreign powers to surrender him into their 
hands, under threats of vengeance and war in the event of 
refusal. 

The negotiations were regularly concluded, and Louis 
Philippe thus answered his mother : " When my dear 
mother receives this letter, her orders will be obeyed, and 
I shall have set out for America. I shall embark in the 
first vessel which sails for the United States. And what 
would I not do after perusing the letter I have just received ? 
1 will no longer believe I am without hope, since I have yet 
the means of soothing the sorrows of a mother so dear to 
me, whose situation and whose sufferings have for so long 
a time caused me deep anguish. It seems to me like a 
dream when I think I shall in a short time embrace my 
dear brothers, and again be united to them, for I could 
scarcely believe what has hitherto appeared to me im- 
possible. I would not now lament my fate ; and I know 
full well that it might have been yet more wretched, nor 
will I deem it miserable if, after again joining my brothers, 
I may know that my beloved mother is as well as it is pos- 
sible under such circumstances for her to be, and if I can 
once more serve my country by contributing to her tranquil- 
lity. Whatever I have done for my country, I consider no 



78 RISE AND FALL 

sacrifice, and whilst I live there is none which I shall not 
always be ready to make." 

The ship "American," Captain Ewing, belonging to 
Conyngham & Nesbit, of Philadelphia, between which 
port and Hamburg she regularly sailed, was on the point 
of departure. Louis Philippe, who had been provided with 
a Danish passport, engaged a birth for thirty-five guineas, 
and endeavored to prevail on the captain to take his faithful 
Baudoin as under steward ; but he refused, saying that he 
would not be of the slightest service at sea. He even ob- 
jected to taking him on any terms, telling Louis Philippe 
that he would unquestionably desert him as soon as they 
should land in America, but, after much importunity, agreed 
to receive him at half-price. Anxious to escape observation 
as much as possible, both master and man repaired on board 
at once, and remained below in the cabin until the ship 
sailed — a precaution which led the captain to suspect them 
as fugitives from justice. 

The " American " left the Elbe on the 24th of Septem- 
ber, 1796. There was only one other cabin passenger, a 
French gentleman somewhat advanced in years, who came 
on board late in the night preceding the departure, and 
made considerable disturbance. The accommodations did 
not meet his expectations, and getting into a violent passion, 
he commenced finding fault with much vehemence, but with 
a garrulity wonderfully checked by his imperfect knowledge 
of English. His inability to make the captain comprehend 
his complaints only added to his rage, but as there was no 
interpreter at hand, his discontent, or rather the expression 
of it, died away. The next morning the scene was renewed 
at the breakfast table, where the old gentleman became 
enraged because there were not hot rolls, declaring that he 
could not, and would not, eat ship-biscuit. Captain Ewing 
enlisted Louis Philippe as interpreter, and told his refractory 
p:issenger through him, " There is my beef and there are 
my biscuit — if you do not like the fare, return with the 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 79 

pilot." On his way to St. Domingo, where he had a planta- 
tion, the Frenchman concluded to risk his remaining teeth 
rather than wait for another ship, and his anger was sof- 
tened by finding that his fellow passenger could converse 
with him. "You speak very well for a Dane," said he, 
" and I will correct you when you go wrong — but as y,ou are 
a young man, and I an old one, you must serve as my in- 
terpreter." 

In the steerage there were only nine passengers, among 
them a young Hanoverian priest, who was the laughing- 
stock of the crew, hiding himself whenever the wind was 
not' fair, lest the second mate should carry into execution 
his threat to throw him overboard as a Jonah. There was 
also a burly Alsacian escaping from the proscription, ac- 
companied by an Italian servant, who robbed him of his 
entire wealth, 500 golden louis, on the morning after his 
arrival. Louis Philippe used to converse familiarly with 
the steerage passengers, and on ascending the throne, gave 
one of them, then a shopkeeper in Rouen, a gold medal as 
a souvenir of the voyage. 

Ere the ship left the coast of Europe, she was boarded by 
a French privateer which had just captured two Danish 
vessels, and was taking them into Havre. The old gentle- 
man was much alarmed when he saw the armed boat's 
crew approaching, and ran down to hide in the cabin, 
saying to Louis Philippe as he descended the companion- 
way : " If you, my good friend, were a French subject as 
I am, you would not take matters so coolly." The priva- 
teer's men having reached the deck, examined the ship's 
papers, and took their leave. "You," said their officer, 
"are bound from Hamburg to Philadelphia, both neutral 
ports, so we have nothing to do with you, but you had 
better keep near the coast of England, as it is safer than 
that of France." 

The passage was a pleasant one of twenty-seven days, 
and on arriving in the harbor of Philadelphia, Louis Phi- 



80 RISE AND FALL 

lippe, on giving the captain some letters of introduction to 
send up to the city, told him who he was. Capt. Ewing 
was somewhat surprised, as may be imagined, but confessed 
to his young passenger that, owing to the circumstances 
under which he came on board, he had come to the conclu- 
sion that he was a gambler who had been exposed in cheat- 
inor, and was seeking a refuoje in the new world. The 
other passenger, whose teeth and constitution had resisted 
the biscuit and beef, remained in ignorance of his compan- 
ion's name until he learned on shore that the Duke of Or- 
leans had arrived, and that he was the interpreter. 

Louis Philippe landed in Philadelphia at Walnut street 
wharf, where he was welcomed by Mr. David H. Conyng- 
ham, one of the owners of the '' American," who conducted 
him to his house. No. 94 Front street, where he remained 
as a guest for several days. He then took rooms in the 
lower part of a house belonging to the Rev. Mr. Marshal, 
adjoining a church in Walnut street, between Fourth and 
Fifth streets. Here he anxiously awaited his two brothers ; 
and when a reasonable time had elapsed without their 
arrival, he began to fear that some accident had befallen 
them at sea, or that the French government had not kept 
their promises. 

The Directory were, however, too happy to free themselves 
of the Orleans family, and on learning that Louis Philippe 
had sailed, gave orders that his brothers should be immedi- 
ately sent to join him. Montpensier says in his journal : 
'' When the General pronounced the unexpected happy 
sounds, ' You shall quit this prison for ever, unless you 
desire to return to it,' Beaujolais and myself looked stead- 
fastly at each other, then, throwing ourselves into each 
other's arms, began to cry, laugh, leap about the room, and 
even to exhibit signs of temporary derangement." They 
embarked from Marseilles on the 5th of November, 1796, 
on board the Swedish ship " Jupiter," and after a tedious 
passage of ninety-three days, once more joined their brother. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



81 



The brothers tOQk a house in Fourth street, belonging to the 
Spanish Consul, and the lease is a rare specimen of the 
legal papers then so carefully drawn up.* 

This Indenture, made the twenty-fifth day of February, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, 
Between Don Joseph Ignatius de Viar, of the city of Philadel- 
phia, Esquire, of the one part, and Louis Philippe D'Orleans, of 
the said city, Esquire, of the other part, Witnesseth, that the 
said Don Joseph Ignatius de Viar, in consideration of the payment 
of the Rent and performance of the Covenants hereinafter men- 
tioned, hath and by these presents doth lease, demise and let to 
the said Louis Philippe D'Orleans, all that certain three story brick 
House and lot of ground thereto belonging, situate on the north- 
west corner of Fourth and Prune streets, in the said city, together 
with the privilege of the necessary house at the west end, and all 
other the appurtenances, to have and to hold to him the said 
Louis Philippe D'Orleans, from the day of the date hereof for 
and during the full end and term of two years now next ensuing : 
Yielding and paying therefor unto the said Don Joseph Ignatius 
de Viar, his Heirs and Assigns, the yearly rent or sum of Five 
Hundred and Fifty Milled Silver Dollars, in quarterly payments, to 
say, on the twenty-fifth day of the months of May, August, No- 
vember and February in each year, during the said term ; the first 
quarter's Rent to be paid on the twenty-fifth day of May next. 
And the said Louis Philippe D'Orleans doth hereby promise and 
agree to pay the said Yearly Rent in quarterly payments as afore- 
said, and at the expiration of this Lease, to surrender and give up 
peaceable possession of the said demised Premises, to the said 
Don Joseph Ignatius de Viar, his Heirs and Assigns, in tenantable 
order and repair, reasonable wear, fire and unavoidable accidents 
excepted. Provided always, that the Term hereby demised is 
upon this express condition, nevertheless, that in case a Sale 
should be made of the said demised premises at any time during 
the said Term, and the Purchaser should want possession thereof, 
then in such case the term hereby demised shall cease, and deter- 
mine on three months' notice being given in writing ; anything 



* It is now in the possession of E. D. Ingraham, Esq. of Philadelphia. 



82 RISE AND FALL 

hereinbefore contained to the contrary notwithstanding. In Wit- 
ness whereof the said parties have interchangeably set their 
Hands and Seals hereunto ; dated the day and year first above 
written. 



Sealed and Delivered in ^ jq^^^^ IGNAT'S VIAR. [L. S.] 
ine presence of us, f *- -" 

Abm Shoemaker, I L. P. D'ORLEANS. [L. S.J 

Joel Richardson, J 



Baudoin was the sole domestic of this modern establishment, 
and is now remembered by some of the market-women, with 
whom he considered the state of his masters' finances obliged 
him to drive hard bargains. The Princess mingled in the 
society of the city and formed many agreeable acquaintances, 
all of whom were remembered through the stirring scenes 
and the successes of after years. Mr. Bingham, Mr. Wil- 
ling, Mr. Dallas, Mr. Gallatin, Mrs. Powell and others were 
mentioned to Gen. Cass, but no record has been made by 
that writer of the young lady to whom Louis Philippe offered 
his hand. She was " Willing," report saith, and referred her 
suitor to papa, but the old gentleman would not give his con- 
sent, alleging to Louis Philippe as a reason : *' As an exile, 
destitute of means, you are not a suitable match for my 
daughter — should you recover your rights, she will not be a 
suitable match for you." 

Philadelphia was then the seat of the Federal Govern- 
ment, and Gen. Washington was at the head of the adminis- 
tration. Seeing the young Princes at Independence Hall, 
he had them presented to him, and cordially invited them to 
visit Mount Vernon when he should have again retired into 
private life. Louis Philippe was present at the inauguration 
of Mr. Adams, and heard Washington's last address to the 
American Congress. Well would it have been for the future 
King of the French, if the example and precepts of our 
revered first President had made a deeper impression upon 
his mind — if he had learned from them to restrain his 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 83 

" vaulting ambition," to promote the good of his people, 
and to preserve inviolable his oath of office. History does 
not present a more striking contrast, or teach in all her 
pages a more impressive lesson, than is to be read in the 
different circumstances under which the first President of 
the United States, and the first Republican King of France, 
retired from the offices to which the people had called them. 
One, resisting all the temptations offered to him for perpetu- 
ating his power, steadily adhered to the Constitution he had 
sworn to protect, and, after directing with steady and cau- 
tious hand the ship of state through political seas yet 
troubled by the recent struggle, relinquished the helm to his 
successor when she was in calm water, after laying down 
the course which was to guide him.* The other, constantly, 
from the moment of his election, improving every occasion 
for his own aggrandizement, seizing every opportunity to 
extend his prerogative, breaking without scruple the solemn 
oaths he had taken — after an administration of eighteen 
years, when apparently at the summit of his aspirations, 
driven in disgrace from the palace where he had built him- 
self a throne, his family scattered, and he himself obliged to 
flee in disguise from the people he had deceived. 



* " This is the consummate glory of Washington," says an English 
writer, " a triumphant warrior where the most sanguine had a right to 
despair ; a successful ruler in all the difficulties of a course whollv untried ; 
but a warrior whose sword only left its sheath when the first law of our 
nature commanded it to be drawn ; and a ruler who, having tasted of 
supreme power, gently and unostentatiously desired that the cup might 
pass trom him, nor would suffer more to wet his lips than the most solemn 
and sacred duty to his country and his God required." 



84 



RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XI. 

Leaving Philadelphia in company with General Smith, the 
Princes were for some days his guests at Baltimore, and then 
proceeded to Washington, where they were hospitably re- 
ceived by Mr. Law. The Federal city had been laid out 
upon paper by Major I'Enfant, a French engineer, but no 
traces of the spacious streets were visible elsewhere. Penn- 
sylvania Avenue was " staked out " through a deep morass 
covered with alder bushes, and there were but a few houses 
finished, among them a block still standing, known as the 
" Six Buildings." The north wing of the capitol was nearly 
completed, the corner-stone having been laid with masonic 
honors by General Washington, in 1793. Louis Philippe 
used to speak often to Americans of his kind reception at 
Washington, and of an excursion which he made to the little 
falls of the Potomac, some three miles above the beautiful city 
of Georgetown, in company with General Mason, at whose 
house the Princes stopped on their return. 

Passing through Alexandria, Mount Vernon was their 
next stopping place, where Washington received them with 
parental kindness, and that noble hospitality which character- 
ized the landed proprietors of those days. General Cass says, 
that Louis Philippe's reminiscences of the patriot coincide 
with the statements generally given by his contemporaries of 
his private life and personal habits. He was comparatively 
silent, somewhat reserved, methodical in the division of his 
time, and careful in the use of it. The arrangement of his 
household was that of a wealthy Virginia gentleman of the 
old school — unostentatious, comfortable, and leaving his 
guests to fill up their hours as they thought fit, and at the 
same time providing whatever was necessary for pleasant 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 85 

employment. One morning, after the usual salutations, Louis 
Philippe asked his distinguished host, how he had slept the 
preceding night. It is probable, from the answer, that some 
peculiar circumstance had turned his thoughts towards the 
evils too often produced in society by reprehensible publica- 
tions. However this may be, that answer deserves to be 
engraved upon the hearts of his countrymen: " I always 
sleep well, for I never wrote a word in my life which I had 
afterwards cause to regret." 

While at Mount Vernon, General Washington prepared 
for the Princes an itinerary of a journey to the western coun- 
try, and furnished them with some letters of introduction to 
persons upon the route. They made the necessary prepara- 
tions for a long tour, which they performed on horseback, 
each of them carrying in a pair of saddle-bags, after the 
fashion of that period, whatever he might require in clothes 
and other articles for his personal comfort. The travelling 
map of the three Princes was preserved at the Tuileries, and 
furnished convincing proof that it had passed through severe 
service. The various routes followed by the travellers were 
strongly depicted in red ink ; and, by their extent and direc- 
tion, showed the great enterprise displayed by three young 
strangers to acquire a just knowledge of the country, at a 
time when the difficulties of travelling over a great part of 
the route were enough to discourage many a hardy Ameri- 
can. Louis Philippe, in showing this map to General Cass, 
mentioned that he possessed an accurate account, showing 
the expenditure of every dollar he disbursed in the United 
States. 

Bidding adieu to the " Cincinnatus of the West," the 
Princes mounted their horses, and took the road by Leesburg 
and Harper's Ferry to Winchester, where they stopped at the 
public house of Mr. Bush, a portly old revolutionary soldier, 
who considered the relations between the traveller and him- 
self as a favor to the former. He was a native of Manheim 
on the Rhine, and Louis Philippe, thinking he had won his 
8 



86 RISE AND FALL 

good graces by speaking to him in German about his " fa- 
therland," proposed that the meals of his party should be 
sent up into their room. Such a proposition had never been 
heard in the whole valley of the Shenandoah, and least of 
all in the mansion of our friend, Mr. Bush. The rules of 
his house, to which the laws of the Medes and Persians 
were but transitory regulations, had been attacked, and his 
professional pride wounded ; and the recollections of Man- 
heim, and the pleasure of his native language, and the mod- 
est conversation of the young strangers, were all thrown to 
the wind, and the worthy and offended dignitary exclaimed : 
" If you are too good to eat at the same table with my other 
guests, you are too good to eat in my house — begone ! " And 
notwithstanding the deprecatory tone which Louis Philippe 
immediately took, his disavowal of any intention to offend, 
and his offer to eat wherever it would be agreeable to this 
governor of hungry appetites to decide, the young men 
were compelled to leave the house, and to seek refuge 
elsewhere. 

Leaving Winchester and its democratic landlord, the 
Princes proceeded by Staunton, Abingdon and Knoxville, to 
Nashville. It was court week when they arrived there, and the 
compiler of this work once heard Louis Philippe narrate, with 
great glee, the crowded state of the inn, where they were all 
three forced to sleep in the same bed. On leaving next 
morning, says an eye-witness, they inquired if they should 
be able to procure any spirits during the day. Receiving a 
negative answer, Louis Philippe purchased a tin canteen, 
had it filled, and off they started, one of his brothers re- 
marking : — " This will cut a curious figure in history, the 
Duke of Orleans in the wilds of America with a canteen of 
whiskey around his neck." 

From Nashville they journeyed to Pittsburg via Louis- 
ville, Lexington, Maysville, Chillicothe, Lancaster, Zanes- 
ville, Wheeling and Washington, in Pennsylvania. When 
traversing the barrens in Kentucky, they stopped at a tavern 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 87 

where was to be found *' entertainment for man and horse, ^^ 
and where the landlord was very sclicitous to ascertain the 
business of the travellers — not apparently out of any idle or 
interested curiosity, but because he seemed to feel a true so- 
licitude for them. It was in vain, however, for Louis Philippe 
protested they were travelling to look at the country, and with- 
out any view of purchase or settlement. Such a motive for 
encountering the trouble and expense of a long journey, was 
beyond the circle of the settler's observation or experience ; 
and he could only believe it by placing these young men 
quite low in his scale of human intelligence, and viewing 
them with a feeling of pity or contempt. This Green River 
cabin, like all its congeners, had but one room, and while the 
guests were stretched upon the floor, the landlord and his 
wife occupied their puncheon bedstead, which was pinned to 
the loo-s formincT the side of the mansion. In the night the 
King overheard the good man expressing to his wife his 
regret, that three such promising young men were running 
uselessly over the country, and wondering they did not pur- 
chase land there and establish themselves creditably. 

At Pittsburg Louis Philippe formed some pleasant ac- 
quaintances, among them General Neville and Judge Brack- 
enridge. Conversing one day with the latter on the advan- 
tage of living even under bad laws, provided they are 
written, known, and faithfully executed, than of living in a 
state of society where democracy in full riot sets up its own 
tribunals, and subjects its victims to its own caprices and 
decisions, often under the pretence of favoring popular 
rights and popular liberties, the Judge looked severely, and 
then broke out as follows : " I guess that Nero was no better 
than Robespierre, nor Caligula than Marat; but it is quite 
true that obedience and submission might secure the people 
from the edicts of the one, whilst that very obedience and 
that very submission would subject them to the vengeance of 
the other. Democracy without laws is the most horrible of 
despotisms." 



88 ^ RISE AND FALL 

A curious incident, which occurred during their stay at 
Pittsburg, is related by General Cass, as connected with an 
American who subsequently acquired much distinction for 
the enterprise and military qualities he displayed, in con- 
ducting an expedition from Egypt to Derne, to co-operate 
with our naval forces in an attack upon that city. This 
was General Eaton, who, taking his seat one morning at the 
breakfast table, where Louis Philippe and his brothers, and 
the boarders of the house were assembled, called a female 
servant to him, and said, with a loud voice : " You gave me 

a d dirty room, and a d dirty bed, last night." 

The landlord who had heard the observation, or to whom it 
was repeated, immediately made his appearance, and walk- 
ing up to General Eaton, said : " You have had a d 

dirty room, and a d dirty bed, and as I keep a d 

dirty house, you will walk out of it." And out of it he was 
indeed compelled to go. 

At Pittsburg the travellers rested several days, and formed 
an acquaintance with some of the inhabitants. Thence the 
party travelled to Erie, and then down the lake shore to 
BafFalo. At Cattaraugus they found a band of Seneca 
Indians, to whom they were indebted for a night's hospital- 
ity ; for there were then few habitations except Indian wig- 
wams upon the borders of the internal seas of America, and 
still fewer vessels, except birch canoes, which sailed over 
their waves. Among this band was an old woman, taken 
prisoner many years before, and now habituated to her fate, 
and contented with it. She was a native of Germany, and 
still retained some recollection of her native language and 
country ; and the faint, though still abiding feeling, which 
connected her present condition with her past, led her to 
take an interest in the three young strangers who talked to 
her in that language, and of that country. She exerted 
herself therefore to render their short residence among her 
friends as comfortable as possible. The chief assured the 
travellers that he would be personally responsible for every 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 89 

article they might intrust to his care ; but that he would not 
answer for hjs people, unless this precaution was used. 
Accordingly every thing was deposited with the chief, sad- 
dles, bridles, blankets, clothes and money ; all which 
being faithfully produced in the morning, the day's journey 
was commenced. But the party had not proceeded far 
upon their route when they missed a favorite dog, which they 
had not supposed to be included in the list of contraband 
articles requiring a deposit in this aboriginal custom-house, 
and had therefore left at liberty. This was a singularly 
beautiful animal, and having been the companion in impris- 
onment of the two younger brothers at the Castle of St. 
Jean, they were much attached to him. Louis Philippe 
immediately returned to seek and reclaim the dog, and the 
chief, without the slightest embarrassment, said to him, in 
answer to his representations, '* if you had intrusted the 
dog to me last night, he would have been ready for you this 
morning ; but we will find him." He immediately went to 
a kind of closet, shut in by a board, and on his removing 
this, the faithful animal leaped out upon his masters. 

The health of Beaujolais had suffered by three years' bad 
treatment and excitement in the damp prison at Marseilles, 
and the effects now began to display themselves, rendering 
frequent baitings necessary. Arriving at Bairdstown, he found 
himself indisposed, but the whole place was in commotion, 
and the whole family at the inn, father, mother, children, 
and servants, left their sick guest without attention. When 
the landlady made her appearance, the latter, a little impa- 
tient, asked why she had not left a servant to wait upon him. 
She answered with great animation, that there was a show 
there, the first that had ever been seen in Bairdstown, and 
she could not think of staying away herself, nor of with- 
holding any of her family. After ascending to the throne, 
Louis Philippe sent to Bishop Flaget a handsome clock for 
his Cathedral at Bairdstown, as a memorial of his visit. 

At Chillicothe the Princes stopped at the public house of 

8* 



99 RISE AND FALL 

a Mr. M'Donald, whom Louis Philippe saved from being 
severely beaten by a drunken customer whom the host 
thought himself able to eject from his bar-room. Such was 
Louis Philippe's first claim to the title of ** the Napoleon of 
Peace." Mr. M'Intire was their host at Zanesville. 

A few days afterwards, Louis Philippe acted as surgeon 
to an Indian chief, whom he bled in his wigwam with such 
success, that the tribe bestowed a high, though not very de- 
sirable honor, upon the white stranger. It was customary in 
this tribe, that the whole family, however illustrious, should 
sleep upon one spacious mat, the relations being all ranged 
according to proximity, rank, age, and other discriminating 
circumstances. In acknowledgment of the services ren- 
dered by Louis Philippe to the grandfather of the chief's 
family, he was permitted to pass the night upon the family 
mat between the grandmother and grand aunt, the highest 
honor ever conferred by that tribe upon any individual of 
any age or color. 

The travellers pursued their way to Buffalo, and there 
crossed over to Fort Erie, and then repaired to the Falls 
of Niagara on the Canadian side, the state of the country 
on the American side preventing all direct communication 
between Buffalo and the Cataract. From Buffalo they pro- 
ceeded to Canandaigua, through a country almost in a state 
of nature, and by paths, rather than roads, which to this 
day seem to furnish Louis Philippe with his heau ideal of all 
that is marshy and difficult, and even dangerous, in travel- 
ling. In one of the worst parts of this worst of roads, 
they met Mr. Alexander Baring, the late Lord Ashburton, 
whom Louis Philippe had known at Philadelphia, where he 
had married a daughter of Mr. Bingham. Mr. Baring was 
on a visit to the Falls of Niagara, and having almost ex- 
hausted his patience at the state of the roads, and the diffi- 
culties he had encountered, he expressed a doubt whether 
Niagara itself would furnish an adequate recompense for 
the fatigue and privation necessary to reach it. The travel- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 91 

lers, after a few moments' conversation in the swamp, pur- 
sued their respective routes ; Mr. Baring telling Louis Phi- 
lippe that he had left an almost impassable road behind 
him, and Louis Philippe answering by the comfortable as- 
surance that Mr. Baring would find one no better before 
him. 

They continued their route to Geneva, where they pro- 
cured a boat, and embarked upon the Seneca Lake, which 
they ascended to its head ; and thence they made their way to 
Tioga Point upon the Susquehannah, each of the travellers 
having carried his baggage for the last twenty-five miles upon 
his back. The load was no doubt heavy, and the task labori- 
ous ; but perhaps the burden which the King now bears 
(luckily for his own country and for Europe) is more oppres- 
sive than the weight which the Duke of Orleans carried 
through the forest and over the hills of the Susquehannah. 
From Tioga the party descended the river in a boat to 
Wilkesbarre, and thence they crossed the country to Phila- 
delphia. 

In the following letter, dated from Philadelphia, the 14th 
of August, 1797, and written by the Due de Montpensier to 
his sister, the Princess Adelaide of Orleans, he describes 
the incidents and impressions of this journey : 

" I hope you received the letter which we wrote you from Pitts- 
burg, two months since. We were then in the midst of a great 
journey, that we finished fifteen days ago. It took us four months. 
We travelled during that time a thousand leagues, and always 
upon the same horses, except the last hundred leagues, which we 
performed partly by water, partly on foot, partly upon hired horses, 
and partly in the stage, or public conveyance. We have seen 
many Indians, and we remained several days in their country. 
They received us with great kindness; and our national character 
contributed not a little to this good reception, fur they love the 
French, After them, we found the Falls of Niagara, which I 
wrote you from Pittsburg we were about to visit, the most interest- 
ing object upon our journey. It is the most surprising and majestic 



92 



RISE AND FALL 



spectacle I have ever seen. It is a hundred and thirty-seven 
(French) feet high ; and the volume of vrater is immense, since it 
is the whole river St. Lawrence which precipitates itself at this 
place. I have taken a sketch of it, and I intend to paint a gouache 
from it, which my dear little sister will certainly see at our tender 
mother's ; but it is not yet commenced, and wiH take me much 
time, for truly it is no small work. 

" To give you an idea of the agreeable manner in which they 
travel in this country, I will tell you, my dear sister, that we 
passed fourteen nights in the woods, devoured by all kinds of 
insects, after being wet to the bone, without being able to dry our- 
selves, and eating pork, and sometimes a little salt beef and corn 
bread." 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF TALLEYRAND. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 93 



CHAPTER XII. 

Returning to Philadelphia in June, 1797, the Princes had 
scarcely time to locate themselves ere the yellow fever broke 
out with violence, and they were counselled to follow the 
examples of all persons of respectability, and to leave the 
city. But this was impossible, owing to the reduced state 
of their finances, and they were forced to remain until the 
fall, when they received supplies from their mother, and 
proceeded northward by the way of Trenton. 

In New York the Princes were guests of Talleyrand, 
who inhabited a small house in the environs of the city, 
and was on the point of setting out for Boston when they 
arrived, to transact some commercial affairs. He persuaded 
his wandering countrymen to join him, and taking passage 
on board the sloop " Yankee Blade," they traversed the 
Sound in seven days to Providence. Here places were 
secured in a stage which was to start in three days, and 
which was a day and a half on the road to Boston. They 
were set down at the Hancock House in Corn Lane, then 
kept by a Mrs. Brazier, who was often afterwards mentioned 
by Louis Philippe to Bostonians as a pattern housewife. 

The arrival of the Princes in the metropolis of New 
England was announced in the Columbian Centinel of 
October 21st, 1797, then edited by Major Russell, to whom 
Louis Philippe had made himself known as a brother free- 
mason, possessing means scarce sufficient for a week's sub- 
sistence. The Prince did not ask that direct charity which 
had been given to Brissot and other French masons by the 
Boston Lodges, but " offered him some books of great 
value." Without cheapening, the Major purchas d them. 
He penetrated the exigency. He gave the assistance cir- 



04 RISE AND FALL 

cuitonsly which he had too much delicacy, too nice an appre- 
hension of the sensitiveness of greatness in distress to offer 
directly, and an atlas, among the books thus purchased, he 
kept through life. To the claims of misfortune he never 
turned a deaf ear, whether his brother came from afar or 
from the next door, whether he was a pauper or a Prince. 
It is the distress, not the rank of the sufferer, which creates 
the claim to Masonic assistance." * 

On the afternoon of the above announcement, Major 
Russell took the Princes to witness the launch of the Con- 
stitution into that element upon which she has since won 
so much honor, and they afterwards visited the monument 
erected to the memory of Dr. Warren. By his advice they 
took board with a tailor named Amblard, whose house stood 
where the Globe Bank now stands, and every morning after 
breakfast they used to visit the Centinel office in Congress 
street, to read the foreign news in the exchange papers. 
Nor did Major Russell's good offices stop here; for he 
opened the columns of his excellent paper to Louis Philippe 
for the vindication of his father's memory from the black 
pall of infamy which shrouded it. The Centinel of Novem- 
ber 15th, t contains a curious letter purporting to be written 
by the confessor of " Egalite," before his execution. The 
writer goes on to say, that having proved to him by passages 
from Scripture that his " noble repentance would grant 
him salvation," " Yes," said the Duke, " I die innocent of 
the crime of which I am accused ; may God forgive my judges 
as I foro-ive them. I have indeed deserved death in order to 
expiate my sins. I have contributed to the death of an inno- 
cent person, and that has been my bane, but he was too good 
not to forgive me, — God will join us both with St. Louis." 

This letter, coupled with the gentlemanlike deportment 
of the Princes, opened to them the doors of the first houses 



* Baylies' Eulogy on Benjamin Russell. 

t This was kindly communicated to the compiler by the Rev. J. B. Felt. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 95 

in the city, even those belonging to the Federalists, who 
lamented Louis XVI. as America's greatest benefactor, and 
were contending against a spirit which was endeavoring *' to 
organize Jacobin Clubs, as the legitimate organs of Ameri- 
can Government." Owing to the prevalence of the yellow 
fever in the more southern cities, Boston was then unusu- 
ally thronged with strangers, and Louis Philippe has often 
since spoken with great satisfaction of the plsasant evenings 
he passed at the houses of the Hon. H. G. Otis, John Am- 
ory, Esq., Col. Pickering, Gen. Knox, and others. He also 
recollected a Museum which was a place of fashionable resort, 
dancing assemblies given by Monsieur Duport, and the 
humble Roman Catholic chapel, which had just been graced 
by the pious Cheverus. 

Talleyrand was meanwhile busy in making purchases for 
the West India market, and wishing to visit the lumber 
contractors in Maine, the Princes joined him. They left 
Boston in a covered wagon, and passed some days at New- 
buryport, riding up one bank of the Merrimac to Haverhill, 
and returning by the other ; and it once afforded great pleasure 
to the compiler of this work to hear Louis Philippe speak 
in high praise of this beautiful, though neglected river : 

" Earth has not any thing to ghow more fair." 

Journeying northward, the Princes were for a week 
guests at the Martin farm, on the borders of Sagamore 
creek, near Portsmouth. The Martin homestead is still 
standing, and some flowers sent from its garden to the 
Tuileries after Louis Philippe had ascended the throne, 
were acknowledged by an autograph letter. At Gardiner 
they accepted the hospitality of General Henry Dearborn, 
who occupied a house built in 1785, and destroyed by fire 
while the first sheet of this work was in press. 

Kosciusko had arrived in the United States, and the 
papers announcing that Lafayette and the Duchess of Or- 



96 RISE AND FALL 

leans were on their way, the Princes returned to New York 
by Boston, Worcester, Hartford, New Haven, and New 
London. Letters of introduction given them in Boston pro- 
cured them a hospitable greeting, and General Cass says that 
Governor Clinton, Judge Jay, Colonel Burr, and Colonel 
Hamilton appear to have been well known to Louis Phi- 
lippe. 

One day Talleyrand invited the Princes to join him on a 
fishing excursion, and they left in a small sail-boat without 
any attendant. The weather was delightful, the wind fair, 
and their boat glided along up the East River, the exiles 
singing some of the glees which they had learned at the 
Court of Versailles. All at once, they found themselves 
drawn into a large eddy, in which their frail craft was 
carried round and round with considerable velocity, and 
they were forced to ply their oars in order to escape. Louis 
Philippe used often to speak of Hell Gate, and laugh at the 
fears of the ex-bishop Talleyrand, which displayed them- 
selves in a continued volley of curses. 

The commercial emporium of America was then a com- 
paratively small town, and when a map of New York was 
exhibited to Louis Philippe in 1838, he could scarce credit 
its astonishing growth. With the lower part of the city, 
however, he appeared to be perfectly familiar, and descanted 
on the fine view from the Battery, and the meats at Fly 
Market, in a manner that would have gladdened the heart 
of Knickerbocker. 

Instead of welcoming their mother to the land which 
had been a peaceful refuge to the Princes, they learned 
while at New York from the newspapers that she had been 
transported with the Prince of Conti and the Duchess of 
Bourbon to Spain. A law had been passed at the close of 
the 18th of Fructidor, banishing every Bourbon from 
France, and the affectionate trio of exiled sons were again 
sorrowful. '' My poor mother, my beloved mother ! " ex- 
claimed Louis Philippe; " she also is included in this unjust 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 97 

and severe decree ! What has she done to France, but love 
it, cherish it, plead for it, weep over it, suffer for it ? We 
will speedily join her. She is gone to Spain ! Dearest 
mother, thou shalt not remain sonless as well as a widow 
whilst we are alive! " From that moment their resolution 
was taken; but how long it was before it could be carried 
into effect ! England and Spain were at war. The com- 
munications between the United States and the Peninsula 
were, therefore, either interrupted or dangerous, and many 
difficulties opposed themselves to the realization of their 
filial enterprise. 

The only practicable route which offered itself was to repair 
to Louisiana over land, and then endeavor to find a vessel 
bound for Havana, whence English vessels sailed for Europe. 
The Princes accordingly left Philadelphia on the ICth of 
December, 1797, on horseback, but Beaujolais becoming 
fatigued, they purchased a wagon. Arriving at Carlisle on 
Saturday, when the town was full of the neighboring 
yeomen, they drove up to a public house, in front of which 
was a feeding-trough for the use of travellers, who might 
not choose to have their horses put up in the stable. The 
bits were removed, and while the horses were feeding, they 
became frightened by a passing squad of volunteer soldiers, 
and dashed off at full speed. For a while they kept on 
well enough, and the Princes began to congratulate them- 
selves, when they came to a tree which remained standing 
in the centre of the road, with a path on either side of it 
— as is often seen at the present day in the far West. One 
of the horses chose to pass on one side, and his fellow on 
the other, so the pole came in violent contact with the tree, 
and the occupants of the wagon were thrown out with great 
violence. Stunned by the fall, Louis Philippe lay for some 
moments insensible, but on recovering, managed to bind up 
and draw blood from his arm. Quite a crowd had collected 
to watch the operation, and as at that period the New 
England States were sending out swarms of emigrants to 



98 



RISE AND FALL 



Ohio, it was thought that he was a Yankee doctor, going 
West to establish himself. Apparently satisfied with the 
surgical ability which the new Esculapias had displayed, the 
Squire and other notables of Carlisle endeavored to persuade 
him to remain and commence his professional career 
amongst them. They offered to guarantee him a good 
living, feeling certain, to use their own words, that a man 
who could doctor himself so well, was calculated to heal 
others, and were quite disappointed when he declined their 
proposition. " Perhaps," said Louis Philippe when relating 
this anecdote to an American gentleman in 1845, "I should 
have lived happier as the Doctor of Carlisle than as the 
King of the French ! " 

When the Princes reached Pittsburg, they found the 
Monongahela frozen, bat the Alleghany open. They pur- 
chased a keel-boat, then lying in the ice, and with much 
labor and difficulty transported it to the point where the two 
rivers meet and form the Ohio. There the party embarked 
on that river, which they descended, along with three persons 
to aid them in the navigation. Before airiNin^ at Wheelinof, 
the river became entirely obstructed by the ice, and they 
were compelled to land and remain some days. They 

found Major F , an officer of the United States' army, 

charged with dispatches for the posts below, detained at 
the same place. On examining the river from the neigh- 
boring hills, they ascertained that the region of ice extended 
only about three miles, and kept themselves prepared to take 
advantage of the first opening which should appear. This 
soon came, and they passed through, and continued their 

voyage ; but Major F , who had not been equally 

alert, missed the opportunity, and remained blockaded. He 
did not reach the lower part of the river till three weeks 
after our travellers, and it is suggested by General Cass, 
from whom we continue to quote, that he should have been 
presented with a leaden paddle. 

At Marietta the party stopped and landed, and a circum- 



OP LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



99 



stance connected with this event shows Louis Philippe's 
extraordinary memory. When King of the French, he 
asked an American gentleman if he was ever in Marietta. 
As it happened, this gentleman had spent some years in the 
early part of his life there, and was able to answer in the 
affirmative. " And do you know," said Louis Philippe, *' a 
French baker there named Thierry?" The gentleman 
knew him perfectly well, and so answered the inquiry. 
" Well," said the King, " I once ran away with him," — 
and then proceeded to explain, that, in descending the 
Ohio, he had stopped at Marietta, and gone into the town 
in search of bread. He was referred to this same Mr. 
Thierry ; and the baker not having a stock on hand, set 
himself to work to heat his oven in order to supply the 
applicant. While this process was going on, Louis Philippe 
walked over the town, and visited the interesting ancient 
remains which are to be found in the western part of it, 
near the banks of the Muskingum, and whose history and 
purposes have given rise to such various and unsatisfactory 
speculations. Louis Philippe took a sketch of some of 
these works, which are indeed among the most extensive of 
their class that are to be found in the vast basin of the 
Mississippi. On his return he found the ice in the Musk- 
ingham on the point of breaking up, and Mr. Thierry so 
late in his operations, that he had barely time to leap into 
the boat with his bread, before they were compelled to leave 
the shore, that they might precede the mass of ice which 
was entering the Ohio. The baker thus carried off, bore 
his misfortune like a philosopher ; and though he mourned 
over the supposed grief of his faithful wife, he still urged 
the rowers to exert themselves, in order to place his young 
countrymen beyond the chance of injury. They were finally 
successful ; and after some time, Mr. Thierry was taken 
ashore by a canoe which they hailed, well satisfied with his 
expedition. 

The devscent of the Mississippi river was at that day a 



100 



RISE AND FALL 



voyage of considerable danger, but Louis Philippe after- 
wards referred to it as one of the most excitingly interesting 
portions of his peregrinations. All the principal localities 
continued fresh in his mind, and not a year before his 
dethronement, the compiler saw a list of scenes which he 
wished to have sketched. One afternoon, by the inatten- 
tion of the helmsman, the boat struck a " snag," and stove 
in her bows. All the crew, Princes and hired men, went 
to work ; and after twenty-four hours, the damages were 
repaired. They reached New Orleans in safety on the 17th 
of February, 1798. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF LAFAYETTE. 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.- 101 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Louisiana had passed from the French to the Spanish 
crown, but the Princes found at New Orleans many 
countrymen who loaded them with attentions, and the 
Governor, Don Gayoso, not only welcomed them at his 
palace, but promised them a passage to Havana in a man- 
of-war which he daily expected. After waiting for it five 
weeks, Louis Philippe became impatient, and finding an 
American brig bound for Cuba, the brothers took passage 
in her. Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, they were met by an 
English frigate, sailing under the tri-colored flag, which 
fired a gun as a signal for the brig to lie to, and sent a boat 
to board her. The Princes had seen with despair the hated 
emblem of the Republic, which threatened them with im- 
prisonment if not death, and descended into the cabin to 
destroy some of their papers. While thus employed, they 
heard the officer come on board, and soon a bluff English 
voice called out at the top of the companion-way : " Come, 
tumble up my lads, you must follow us." Going on deck 
they found that their captors were in want of seamen, and 
were told without much ceremony, that they would make 
" first rate fore-top-men." " God knows," said Montpensier, 
"where they will take us to now — perhaps we shall have 
to sail round the world." 

Alongside of the frigate, when the lieutenant was about 
to go up the side, Louis Philippe said, with that air of dig- 
nity which he knew so well how to assume : " Will you 
have the goodness to tell your captain that I am the Duke 
of Orleans, on my way, with my brothers the Duke of Mont- 
pensier and the Count of Beaujolais, to Cuba? " In a few 
moments that oflficer came to the gangway, and after intro- 
9* 



102 - RISE AND FALL 

ducing himself as Captain Cochrane, invited the Princes 
on board. Unluckily for Louis Philippe, the side-rope gave 
way as he was stepping from the gunwale of the boat to the 
accommodation ladder, but as he was a good swimmer, he 
escaped with a thorough ducking. " You are bound for 
Cuba," said Captain Cochrane, when he reached the deck, 
" and to make amends for this detention and salt-water 
bath, I will take you there, though I cannot land you." 
He then very unceremoniously impressed a portion of the 
American crew, (for in those days Britannia ruled the 
waves,) and steering for Cuba, landed his passengers there 
on the last day of March, 1798. 

No opportunity offered itself for going to Europe, and 
although the Princes are said to have lived in the most 
retired manner, confining themselves to study and exercise, 
and carefully restraining from expressing any political opin- 
ions, the home government at Madrid no sooner were in- 
formed of their presence at Havana than it commanded 
them to leave. A revolutionary spirit had begun to develope 
itself in the colony, and it was deemed so unsafe for a French 
Jacobin who had been a noted radical to reside there, that 
by an order dated at Aranjuez on the 21st of May, 1799, 
the Captain-General of Cuba was no longer to tolerate the 
presence of the Princes of Orleans, but was to send them 
directly back to New Orleans. Fortunately they found a 
Spanish cartel bound for the Bahamas and thence to Hali- 
fax, where the Duke of Kent, (the father of dueen Vic- 
toria,) received them kindly, but did not feel authorized to 
give them a passage to England in a government ship, with- 
out first obtaining permission from London. 

This the brothers were not disposed to wait for, and they 
re-embarked on board a small vessel bound for New York, 
where, after many annoyances before they could raise the 
requisite passage-money, they took an English packet for 
Falmouth, where they landed in February, 1800. Their 
sister Adelaide had obtained permission from George HI. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 1 03 

for them to reside in or near London, and they hired what 
has since been known as the Orleans House at Twickenham, 
a picturesque village on the banks of the river Thames, 
then called " the Muses' Haunt," for it was the favorite 
retreat of the literary, as well as the fashionable citizens of 
the metropolis. The house is situated near Pope's Villa, 

" Close by those meads, forever crowned with flowers. 
Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers." 

It is large and commodious, with an octagonal room con- 
nected with it by a long gallery, built by Mr, Secretary 
Johnson, for the purpose of entertaining Caroline, Queen of 
George H., at dinner. This room was Louis Philippe's 
private study. 

Louis XVni. then resided at Mettau, in Germany, 
with a few emigrant nobles, who endeavored to keep up the 
ceremonious etiquette of a court ; while the Prince of 
Conde, at the head of a small army, had an occasional 
skirmish with the French troops. The Count of Artois, after- 
wards Charles X., was in London, with several other Princes 
of the elder Bourbon branch ; and a contemporary writer in 
Fraser's Magazine, (from whom I borrow largely,) says that 
the arrival of the three sons of " Egalite " in England was to 
them an event of importance, while all politicians regarded 
it with curiosity. '' What is the object of Louis Philippe 
in coming to London ? " was a question every where put. 

That the brothers and the child of Louis XVL should 
feel an aversion to the offspring of the ungrateful kinsman 
who had voted for the death of their brother and father, 
cannot excite surprise — the defection of Louis Philippe 
when under Dumouriez, with his once trumpeted radical 
principles, and known ambition to grasp the throne, rendering 
him an object of particular suspicion and mistrust. The 
Count of Artois determined to ascertain his views if possi- 
ble, and taking advantage of the temporary absence of 



104 RISE AND FALL 

Montpensier and Beaujolais for the purpose of sea-bathing 
at Brighton, invited Louis Philippe to visit him at his resi- 
dence in Welbeck street, Cavendish square. 

The invitation was promptly accepted, and at the first 
visit no allusion was made to politics, or family affairs, save 
that much talked of state secret, — the Man in the Iron Mask. 
Asked, during his reign, by one of our American Ministers 
who this mysterious personage was, Louis Philippe replied : 
" I cannot tell you — the same question was put to me by 
Charles X. when I first called upon him in London, and I 
could not answer it." " No one knows, then," said Charles 
X., " but I well remember one day at Versailles surprising 
the Queen Marie Antoinette on her knees before Louis 
XVI., imploring him to tell her. This he refused to do, 
declaring that it was a secret only to be confided to his 
successor, though, after all, it was a person of no great 
importance, and not worthy of the interest attached to 
him." 

All the rules of etiquette were strictly observed, and on 
taking leave, Louis Philippe was invited to return to dinner 
a few days afterwards. Then the Count of Artois proposed 
a reconciliation with Louis XVIIL, and Louis Philippe 
expressing great happiness at the idea, the former said : 
*' The King will be pleased to see you, but it will be advisa- 
ble for you to write him." 

When the Count of Artois visited Twickenham the next 
morning, Louis Philippe showed him the draft of a letter he 
had prepared, expressing his deep regret at the fatal vote of 
his father, and his own horror at the enormities perpetrated 
by the regicide faction in France, but not disavowing his 
own radical principles, or his attempts to grasp the crown. 
This was not the thorough recantation desired by the elder 
branch, but Louis XVIII. had so much love for his cousin 
that he accepted it, and from that day were renewed the 
favors heaped upon the Orleans branch by the legitimate 
Bourbons. 



OP LOUIS PHILIPPE. 105 

Finding that Louis Philippe was not apparently organizing 
any conspiracy, Mr. Pitt introduced him to George III., 
who held a special levee at St. James Palace to receive him 
and his brothers. They also mingled in the most fashion- 
able and refined English circles, and so won good opinion 
as to gain influence enough to persuade Mr. Pitt to -send 
them, at their urgent request, in a ship of war to Minorca. 
From that place they had hoped to cross over into Spain, 
where their mother was residing at Figueiras, in Catalonia, 
Napoleon having generously given her a large portion of the 
confiscated revenues of her husband, on condition that her 
sons should not serve against his government.* A Neapoli- 
tan corvette luckily touched at Mahon shortly after their 
arrival, which conveyed them to Barcelona, but so great 
was the aversion of the Spanish government to the sons of 
the ungrateful regicide, that they were not allowed to go 
into the interior. The Duchess sent them as large a sum as 
she could spare, and gladly acquiesced in their desire to have 
their sister Adelaide, who had been living in Hungary with 
Madame de Genlis, with her. Devotedly attached to their 
mother, who had ever been kind and generous to them, the 
Princes felt deep regret at not being able to see her, but the 
Spanish Government was inexorable, and they were forced 
to return to Twickenham. 

This was in 1802, and for the five ensuing years the 
brothers led a retired and happy life, attended by the Chev- 
alier de Broval, who had been attached to their suite in 
their younger days. Beaujolais watched with interest the 
affairs of France and of the continent, keeping his brothers 
informed of what was going on in those eventful times — 
Montpensier painted some very pretty landscapes, (which 
were afterwards burned when Neuilly was sacked in 1848,) 
— and Louis Philippe devoted most of his time to the study 



* Memoires of Vallet. 



106 RISE AND FALL 

of political economy. The constitution and laws of England 
were his favorite theme, and he became so much attached 
to them, and the land which has attained greatness under 
their action, that in July, 1804, he wrote to the then Bishop 
of Llandaff : "I quitted my native land so early, that I have 
hardly the habits or the manners of a Frenchman, and I 
can say with truth, that I am attached to England, not only 
by gratitude, but by taste and inclination. In the sincer- 
ity of my heart do I pray that I may never leave this hospi- 
table soil. But it is not from individual feeling only that 
I take so much interest in the success of England — it is 
also as a man. The safety of Europe, of the world itself, 
the happiness and independence of the human race, depend 
upon the safety and happiness of England." 

While thus flattering the English, so justly proud of their 
nation, and fond of hearing it praised by foreigners, Louis 
Philippe was devoted in his professions of fidelity to Louis 
XVllL, to whom he took the oath of fidelity. On receiving 
a copy of the protest of Louis XVIII. in favor of the rights 
of the Bourbons to the French throne, he wrote the follow- 
ing adhesion, signed it first, and wrote to the other members 
of the royal family to obtain their signatures. 

"We, the undersigned Princes, the brother, nephews, and 
cousins of his Majesty Louis XVIII., King of France and Navarre, 
being deeply impressed with the same sentiments with which our 
Sovereign Lord and King proves himself to be so gloriously ani- 
mated in his noble answer to the proposal made to him to renounce 
the throne of France, and to require of all the Princes of his 
house a renunciation of their imprescriptible rights to the succes- 
sion to that same throne, we declare — 

" That as our attachment to our duty and honor can never per- 
mit us to enter into any compromise regarding our rights^ we ad- 
here with heart and soul to the answer of our King : 

" That following his illustrious example, we shall never consent 
to the slightest step that might degrade the House of Bourbon, nor 
make it be wanting in its duty to itself, to its ancestors and its de- 
scendants : 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 107 

" And that if the unjust exercise of superior power should suc- 
ceed (which God avert) in placing de facto but never de jure, on 
the throne of France^ any but our lawful King, we shall obey, 
with as much confidence as fidelity, the voice of honor, which bids 
us to appeal, unto uur last breath, to God, the French, and our 
swords. 

" Louis Philippe d'Orleans. 
"April 23, 1803." 

Unfortunately the health of the Dukes of Montpensier 
and of Beaujolais had been so impaired by their confinement 
in the dungeons at Marseilles, that they were seized with 
pulmonary complaints soon afterwards. The best medical 
aid was obtained, but Montpensier died, in his thirty-second 
year, on the 18th of May, 1807. A writer who knew him, 
says that he had a noble and tender heart, a fine, elevated 
mind, a high sense of honor, and a great love of order and 
truth. His remains were deposited in Westminster Abbey, 
where a monument was erected to his memory in 1829, 
bearing the following inscription — the joint composition of 
Louis Philippe and General Dumouriez : 

" Princeps illustrissimus et serenissimus 
Antonius-Philippus, Dux de Montpensier, 

Rigibus oriundus, 

Ducis Aurelianensis filius natus secundus, 

A tenera juventute 

In arniis strenuus, 

In vinculis indomitus, 

In adversis rebus non fractus, 

In secundis non elatus, 

Artium liberalium cultor assiduus, 

Urbanus jucundus, omnibus comis ; 

Fratribus, propinquis, amicis, patriae, 

Nunquam non deflendus, 

Uteunque fortunae vicissitudines 

Expertus, 

Liberali tamen Anglorum hospitalitate 

Exceptus 

Hoc demum in regum asylo 

Requiescit. 



108 RISE AND FALL 

Nat. III. julii M. Dcc. lxxv. 
Ob. XVIII, mail M. dccc. vii. £Etat. xxx. 

In memoriam fratris dilectissimi 
Ludovicus-Philippus, Dux Aurelianensis, 
Hoc marmor posuit." 

The health of de Beaujolais declining also, the London 
physicians advised him to pass the winter in a milder and 
more genial atmosphere, recommending Malta, but he 
was unwilling to leave England. " I am positive," said he 
to Louis Philippe, " that my life will end like that of Mont- 
pensier ; why then should I seek a grave in a distant land, 
and lose the consolation of dying in this retreat where we at 
last found repose? Let us remain here on this hospitable 
shore, where I can die in your arms, and my ashes can be 
mingled with those of my beloved brother." Louis Philippe 
promising never to leave him, he consented to embark, and 
after a tempestuous passage they arrived in Malta. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 109 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Bereaved and alone, Louis Philippe sought in change of 
scene some mitigation of his sorrows; and having received 
from Ferdinand IV., King of the Two Sicilies, an invitation 
couched in the most flattering terms to visit him, he em- 
barked for Messina, and crossed Sicily to Palermo. There 
he was received with regal hospitality, and succeeded in 
captivating the heart of Marie Amelie, who accepted his 
suit. Ferdinand gladly gave his consent to his daughter's 
marriage, for he was not only pleased with Louis Philippe, 
but wished to secure his military talents in case that Joachim 
Murat, who then ruled at Naples, should attempt to seize 
the remaining half of his kingdom. With his queen the 
case was different, for, like many other mothers, she had 
formed too many ambitious projects for her daughter's set- 
tlement in life, to give Jier to a young man who had little, 
save his talents and his sword. 

Just then, news was received at Palermo that Napoleon, 
having constituted himself the arbitrator between the King 
of Spain and his son Ferdinand, had resolved to deprive one 
of the present, the other of his prospective right to the 
crown, and to place the diadem of the peninsula on the brow 
of his brother, Joseph Bonaparte. This led to the long 
Spanish war, and the dueen of Sicily had strong hopes that 
her second son Leopold might secure the throne for himself, 
if aided by Louis Philippe as General of the royalists, who 
would rally around a Bourbon leader. She therefore appa- 
rently favored his attentions to her daughter, until she had 
persuaded him to accompany Prince Leopold to Seville. 

The English Minister at Palermo procured the two Prin- 
ces a passage on board of the British corvette " Thunderer," 
10 



110 RISE AND FALL 

to Gibraltar, from whence they intended going to Seville, but 
on landing were told that they could not enter Spain. In 
vain did Prince Leopold attempt to obtain permission from 
Lord Collingwood, the English Governor ; and Louis Phi- 
lippe hearing that George IIT. would stop his pension from 
the fund voted by Parliament for the support of the royal 
refugees, entered into a private compact which did him little 
honor. Abandoning his companion, he took passage on 
board the " Thunderer" for England, -where, on his arrival, 
he complained of Lord Collingwood' s course through the 
Sicilian Minister, in order to appease his intended mother- 
in-law, but, as was the previous understanding, accepted as 
an apology that " the Governor of Gibraltar but obeyed his 
instructions." 

The Princess Adelaide had followed her brother through 
the Mediterranean without being able to overtake him until 
after his arrival in England, and through her entreaties, the 
British government gave them passage on board a frigate to 
Malta, where they said their mother would join them, with 
the express understanding that Louis Philippe was not to 
visit Spain. They sailed from Portsmouth, and arrived at 
Malta in February, 1809. Taking a house in the city of 
Valetta, Louis Philippe at once entered into a correspondence 
with the Junta at Seville, and dispatched the Chevalier de 
Broval as his agent to the national faction, under the pre- 
tence of arranging an interview with his mother. The 
Junta gave him the command of an army destined to cross 
the-frontiers of Catalonia, and unite with the inhabitants of 
the southern provinces of France, who were violently 
opposed to Napoleon, and would rally under the banner of 
any Bourbon prince. Louis Philippe enjoying a high mili- 
tary reputation, De Broval, with the aid of Don Mariano 
Camereno, succeeded in organizing a large corps, who were 
to rise in arms, but the measure coming to the ears of Na- 
poleon, he suddenly invaded Andalusia with an overpowering 
army. The project not only proved a complete failure, but 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. Ill 

loud murmurs were heard in the Junta against Louis Phi- 
lippe's conduct — he had either been culpably careless, or 
sold the Emperor his secret. 

The disappointment of the Queen of Naples in her Span- 
ish project, provoked her to oppose Louis Philippe's over- 
tures to her daughter, but he proceeded boldly to Palermo, 
and by facing his calumniators with an air of injured inno- 
cence, dissipated the fresh cloud which seemed about to 
gather over his fortunes. The charms of his society and 
conversation, the earnest pleading of Louis XVIIL in an 
autograph letter to dueen Maria Caroline, and the undis- 
guised attachment of the Princess for him, removed all 
obstacles, and they were affianced. Louis Philippe an- 
nounced the glad tidings to his mother, in a letter which 
shows the strong attachment he bore her — a good trait of 
character which covers many faults. In it he says: "Their 
Majesties having started some objections, I told them that I 
should have recourse to you, to which the Q.ueen replied — 
* Ah ! if that angel intercedes for you, it will be impossible 
to refuse you any thing ! ' I wish, dear mother, that I could 
give you a portrait of the Princess, who was destined for me 
even before her birth. It would be a feeble sketch though, 
for she combines so many good qualities, and is so accom- 
plished in my eyes, that it seems to me she has, in every 
thing, taken you, my good mother, as a model." 

The Duchess of Orleans received this letter at Port 
Mahon, where she had taken refuge from the persecution 
and sorrow to which she seemed destined. She had been 
deprived of her children in their infancy — her husband had 
deserted her, and then been beheaded — two of her sons had 
died in exile — her property had been confiscated — and her 
peaceful retreat at Figueras had been sacked by the Cata- 
lonians, provoked by Louis Philippe's conduct. Embarking 
on board of the British frigate " Resistance" on the 12th of 
October, she arrived at Palermo on the 15th, and one month 
afterwards attended the marriage of her first-born son. 



112 RISE AND FALL 

*' The old Dachess," wrote Lord Collingwood, " who is a 
delightful old woman, seems to have forgotten all her misfor- 
tunes, (and they have been great,) and is very happy in the 
choice which her son has made of a wife." 

The nuptial benediction was pronounced on the 26th of 
November, 1809, in the old Norman chapel of the Royal 
Palace, in the presence of the Sicilian court and the offi- 
cers of the British squadron which protected them. " If 
ever a marriage contract was formed, between individuals 
of such exalted rank without the least admixture of ambi- 
tion or interest," observes Mr. Wright, " it was that of the 
Princess Amelie with the wanderinp- Duke of Orleans." 
The exiled Prince won a bride, who united to that piety and 
those personal graces, w^hich so well become the exemplary 
tenor of domestic life, large intellectual endowments, and a 
spirit and capacity worthy of her high Bourbon lineage. 
She constantly opposed his subsequent plottings to grasp 
the French crown, but after once ascendincr with him the 
throne, (where she at once heightened and relieved the 
grandeur of her position by all those moral excellencies which 
impart grace and dignity to greatness,) her pride revolted at 
leaving it like a fugitive criminal, and she besought Louis 
Philippe to mount his horse and " die like a king." 

No one was now louder in protestations of allegiance to 
the doctrines of legitimate sovereignty than Louis Philippe, 
and so great was his repentance for the revolutionary spirit 
which had previously marked his conduct, that he determined 
to show it in something more than mere words. After 
much mancEUvring, he succeeded in regaining the good will 
of the Regency at Seville, who sent him by Don Mariana 
Camereno, a commission in their forces. Though its accep- 
tance placed him in opposition to his old comrades, and to 
the tri-color under which he had won his early laurels, Louis 
Philippe accepted the commission with apparent joy, as will 
be seen by the following letter : 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 113 

'* In accepting the honorable mission of combatting in the ranks 
of the Spanish armies, I not only do what my honor and inclina- 
tion dictate to me, but also comply with the wishes of their Sicil- 
ian Majesties, and of the Princes, my brothers-in-law, who are so 
eminently interested in the success of Spain against the tyrant who 
has striven to strip the august house I have the honor to have 
issued from, of all its rights. 

" It is indeed time that the glory of the Bourbons should cease 
to be a mere recollection to the nations whom their ancestors have 
so often led to victory.* * * Happy shall I be, if my feeble efforts 
can contribute to raising again and supporting the thrones subverted 
by the usurper, and to maintaining the independence and rights of 
the nations he has so long trampled upon. Happy, even, shall I 
be, if I be doomed to fall in this noble struggle, since, in every 
case, I shall have at least acquired, as your Majesty is pleased to 
tell me, the satisfaction of having been enabled to do my duty, and 
prove myself worthy of my ancestors. 

4< # # * # Spain will recover her King and maintain her altars 
and throne; and, if it please God, I shall have the honor of 
accompanying the victorious Spaniards, when, by their noble exam- 
ple and with their assistance, their neighbors receive them. 

"Louis Philippe d'Orleans. 
"Palermo, May 7, 1810." 

English writers say that the Duke of Wellington, who 
then commanded in the Peninsula, disapproved of the invi- 
tation which had been sent to Louis Philippe, and regretted, 
for his honor's sake, that he accepted it. The Prince, how- 
ever, had no scruples when a chance presented itself of 
personal aggrandizement, even though in arms against the 
country, principles and men which he had once supported. 
He left Palermo on the 21st of May, 1810, and arrived at 
Tarragona in a fortnight, at an inauspicious moment, for the 
Catalonian army were in full retreat. 

Repairing to Cadiz, he met with a frigid reception from 
the Spanish leaders ; the English agents had an invincible 
repugnance to see him intrusted with a command, the 
Regency had discovered some of his intrigues, and the 
Cortes, taking all this into consideration, sent him a polite 
10* 



114 RISE AND FALL 

request to return to Palermo. Receiving this order of ban- 
ishment on the 30th of September, 1810, Louis Philippe, in 
a furious passion, went at once to the anti-chamber of the 
hall in which the Cortes were assembled, and demanded to 
be heard at the bar. The members appointed a committee 
to listen to his protest, which reported that his absence was 
necessary to the safety of Spain, and on the 3d of October 
he was forced to re-embark in a Spanish frigate, which 
landed him at Palermo. He learned on his arrival the birth 
of his son on the 2d of September previous — that Prince 
whose premature and melancholy death France so deplored. 
It has been insinuated, and not without foundation, that 
England gave Louis Philippe a handsome sum from her 
secret service fund to console him for his disappointment, 
and secure his assistance in carrying out her policy in 
Sicily. Certain it is that he opposed the Queen's wish to 
restore her husband to his Neapolitan throne, then usurped 
by Joachim Murat, and advocated the English j)lans for the 
temporary abandonment of Naples, that Sicily might be 
defended against the threatened French invasion. Louis 
Philippe, in connection with the English Minister, (who had 
20,000 troops on the island to back him,) at last openly 
countenanced the resistance of the Sicilians to arbitrary 
laws forced upon them by the Neapolitan emigrants, and 
aided them in framinof a constitution in 1812, based on cer- 
tain privileges which the reigning dynasties in Sicily had 
respected for ages. Like the French charter of 1830, this 
constitution was soon set aside, and the Sicilians doomed to 
learn, by many years of oppression and suffering, how little 
the assurances of a Prince are worth, when his subjects are 
not the depositary, the guardian, and the avenger of their 
own riorhts. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 115 



CHAPTER XV. 

For seventeen years the flashes of French cannon had 
illuminated Europe, and the blood of soldiers fertilized 
her plains. Every street of Paris resounded vi^ith the crying 
of the bulletin and the beating of the drum ; and French ex- 
istence was a dream of arms, and uniforms, and decorations. 
The Empire was great and glorious — her victorious tri- 
color floated o'er once proud capitals — her common soldiers 
sat upon their thrones; but, as a reverse to this dazzling 
picture, her people were decimated and bankrupt. At last 
the flight of the conquering eagles was arrested — foreign 
hordes occupied Paris — and Napoleon was banished to 
Elba, while the Bourbons were restored to the throne. 

This news was brought to Palermo by an English vessel, 
on the 23d of April, 1814, when Louis Philippe, entering 
the Marine Hotel, occupied by the British legation, was 
met at the door by the Minister, who tendered him his warm 
congratulations. He could scarcely credit the news, but 
the Moniteur, as the organ of the French government, re- 
moved all doubts, and hastening to the adjutant-general's 
office, a royal salute soon pealed forth the welcome tidings. 
The next day an English frigate arrived, tendered to Louis 
Philippe by Admiral William Bentinck, then at Genoa, to 
convey him to France, according to instructions received 
from London. The English government wished to have so 
devoted an ally in Paris, though the French nobility evinced 
no wish to see him there. Indeed, the cunning Talleyrand 
said one day to Louis XVIII. " that he saw no necessity 
for hastening the return of Louis Philippe — that the air of 
Palermo seemed to agree with him so well, that perhaps it 
would be best he should remain there." 



116 RISE AND P^ALL 

Arriving at Paris on the 18th of May, accompanied by 
White, his faithful valet, Louis Philippe put up at a hotel in 
the Rue Grange Bateliere, and when it was twilight started 
out to pay a stolen visit to the Palais Royal. The porters, 
who still continued to wear the imperial livery, were with 
difficulty induced to permit a stranger, clad in the cos- 
tume of Sicily, to penetrate the innermost apartments of 
the palace ; but the earnestness with which he pursued his 
survey left them little leisure to question him as to his object. 
As he approached the grand staircase, the recollections of 
his boyhood, the lustre of his ancient race, the agonies of 
mind he had endured since he last beheld that spot, and 
gratitude to that Providence which had spared him amidst 
such universal ruin, completely overwhelmed him, and, fall- 
ing prostrate on the tesselated pavement, he imprinted a 
thousand kisses on the cold white marble, whi^e tears gush- 
ing from his eyes indicated, while they relieved, the emotions 
with which he contended. The attendants of the palace 
looked on this scene of fervent feeling with surprise, some 
imagining that it was the workings of frenzy or of folly ; 
but on being informed that it was the long exiled and sole 
surviving son of Egalite — the Ulysses of modern ages — 
whom they beheld entering the palace of his fathers, after 
his wanderings over Europe and America, — pity was super- 
seded by admiration.* 

The next morning Louis Philippe presented himself at the 
Tuilleries in his Sicilian uniform, not choosing to wait for 
a French court suit, lest some injurious report might be 
circulated, and prejudice Louis XVIIL against him. That 
King received him with great kindness, saying : " Your 
Highness was a Lieutenant General in the service of France 
twenty-five years ago, and three days since, learning your 
return, I re-appointed you ! " " Sire," replied the Duke, 



* Wright's History of Louis Philippe. 



OF LOUIS PIIILTPPE. 



117 



" it will be in the uniform of that rank that I shall hence- 
forth present myself before your Majesty." 

In July, 1814, Louis Philippe went to Palermo for his 
family, on board the frigate " Ville de Marseille," which the 
King had placed at his disposition. He was accompanied 
by his aid-de-camps, Count St. Aldegonde and Baron Atha- 
lin — the latter of whom was afterwards united to Madame 
Adelaide by a morganic marriage, and was for many years 
her brother's most intimate friend. Returning to Paris, the 
Orleans family took up their residence at the Palais Royal ; 
but reports were soon circulated that Louis Philippe was 
plotting against the King, and he was treated with coolness 
and suspicion by the restored royalists. 

The landing of Napoleon at Cannes, on the 5th of March, 
1815, was so entirely unsuspected, that Louis XVIII. was at 
first disposed to fly, but Talleyrand persuaded him to remain 
and adopt vigorous measures against the usurper. He com- 
menced by issuing an ordinance declaring Napoleon a traitor 
and a rebel, for havino; re-entered France at the head of an 
armed force, and enjoined all civil and military officers to 
arrest him for trial before a court-martial. This was widely 
circulated, with the following proclamation from that arch- 
traitor, Marshal Soult, annexed — a disgraceful piece of in- 
gratitude from a man whom Napoleon had raised from the 
ranks to load with favors, and who, years afterwards, was 
purchased by Louis Philippe. 

" Soldiers ! that man, who so recently abdicated, in the face of 
Europe, a usurped power, of which he made so fatal a use, Bona- 
parte, has descended upon the French. soil, which he ought never 
to have seen again. What does he desire? Civil war. Whom 
does he seek? Traitors. Where will he find them ? Will it be 
among the soldiers whom he has deceived and sacrified a thousand 
times, in misleading their valor? Will it be in the bosom of their 
families, through which his very name sends a shudder? Bona- 
parte despises us enough, to think that we are capable of abandon- 
ing a legitimate and beloved monarch, to share the lot of a man 



118 



RISE AND FALL 



who is now a mere adventurer. He believes it, madman that he is ! 
His last act of insanity reveals hhn entirely. Soldiers, the French 
army is the bravest in Europe ; it will also be the most faithful. 
Let us rally around the stainless lilied banner, at the voice of the 
father of his people, the worthy inheritor of the virtues of the 
great Henry. He has himself traced out to you the path which 
you ought to follow : he has put at your head that Prince, the 
model of French chevaliers, whose happy return to his country lias 
chased the usurper from it, and who now sets out to destroy his 
single and last hope. 

" Le Marechal Due de 1)almatie." 

The next step of the King was to send for Louis Philippe, 
but the suspicions he had entertained against him were dis- 
sipated by the frank air with which he said : " Sire ! I am 
prepared to share both your bad and good fortune ; for, al- 
though a royal connection, I am still a subject. Dispose 
of me as your Majesty pleases for the honor and the peace 
of France." He was sent to Lyons with the Count of Ar- 
tois to attend a council of war, at which measures were to be 
taken to oppose Napoleon's progress; but Marshal Macdon- 
ald showing the impossibility of such resistance, Louis Phi- 
lippe returned to Paris. He sent the Duchess to his old 
English residence at Twickenham, with her two sons, the 
youngest of whom was born on the 25th of October, 1814, 
and christened Duke of Nemours. Madame Adelaide pre- 
ferred remaining with General Athalin. 

Louis Philippe was now the favorite adviser of the King, 
and endeavored to stop the approach of Napoleon, but in vain, 
for the regiments sent to oppose him ranged themselves suc- 
cessively under his triumphant banner, and the disbanded sol- 
diers abandoned their occupations, put on their old uniforms, 
and followed the cherished tri-color. In twenty days the 
small escort with which the Emperor had left Elba, swelled 
into an army of forty thousand men, reached Paris — a march 
of two hundred and forty leagues. What a glorious reali- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. . 119 

zation of the promise made them by Napoleon on landing 
in France. 

" Soldiers ! come and range yourselves under the standards of 
your chief; his existence is only composed of yours ; his rights 
are only those of the people and yours ; his interest, his honor, 
his glory, are no other than your interest, your honor, and your 
glory. Victory shall march at the charge step : the eagle, with 
the national colors, shall fly from steeple to steeple, even to the 
towers of Notre-Dame. Then you will be able to show your scars 
with honor ; then you will be able to glory in what you have done ; 
you will be the deliverers' of the country. In your old age, sur- 
rounded and esteemed by your fellow-citizens, they will hear with 
respect while you recount your high deeds ; you will be able to 
say with pride : — ' And I, too, was part of that grand army, 
which entered twice the walls of Vienna, those of Rome, of Ber- 
lin, of Madrid, of Moscow ; and which delivered Paris from the 
foul blot which treason and the presence of the enemy imprinted 
on it.'" 

Accompanied by Marshal Mortier, Louis Philippe had 
visited the fortified towns in the northern military division 
(which had been placed under his command), and made ear- 
nest appeals to the fidelity of the garrisons, whom he entreat- 
ed to remain steadfast to their King. But the veterans of the 
" grand army " were not very favorably disposed to listen to 
one who had deserted the tri-color under which he had 
fought in youth, and now considered it his " principal dis- 
tinction to have escaped the contaminating victories of an 
usurper," whom he intended to punish as a criminal. Na- 
poleon reached Paris on the 20th of March, (the birth- 
day of his son in 1811,) and Louis Philippe, who had left 
the Tuileries that morning, found the gates of every fortress 
he came to, as he pursued his rapid journey northward, 
closed against him. The commanders had been notified by 
telegraph that : " The Emperor entered Paris at the head of 
the troops sent against him, — the authorities, both civil 



120 . RISE AND FALL 

and military, must obey no orders but his — and the tri- 
colored flag must again be hoisted." 

The war spirit, which thus changed the government of 
France, as by a miracle, was thenceforth used by Louis 
Philippe to advance his own views, and ere leaving France 
for Twickenham, he sent the following conciliatory letter to 
Marshal Mortier. 

" My dear Marshal — I love my country too well to sacrifice 
the interests of France because new misfortunes have forced me 
to quit it. I depart, intending to live in retirement. The King 
being no longer in France, I can transmit you no further orders in 
his name, and I release you from the observance of those which 
have been sent to you. You will act as your pure patriotism and 
your excellent judgment will dictate, for the best interests of 
France, and the proper performance of your duties. Adieu, my 
dear Marshal ; how my heart is grieved in writing that word ! 
Let me rely upon your friendship wherever fortune may lead me, 
and be assured always of mine. What I have seen of you for the 
short time we have been together, will never be effaced from my 
memory. My admiration for your loyalty and your noble charac- 
ter is only equalled by my esteem and my love, and I cordially wish 
yoQ, my dear Marshal, all the happiness you merit, and which I 
hope may yet be in store for you. 

L. P. D 'Orleans." 

While the army rallied around Napoleon, supporting his 
imperial schemes for recovering his former position, the 
bourgeoisie shrank back from the conqueror who had driven 
his war chariot over industry and commerce, with no law, save 
his individual will. They remembered the heavy taxes levied 
to maintain the army ; the conscriptions which had absorbed 
the male population until the deaths exceeded the births ; and 
when they recovered their self-possession, strongly opposed 
the efforts of Napoleon to re-establish his absolute rule. Du- 
pont de I'Eure,* then Vice-president of the Representative 
Chamber, asserted their rights with an intrepidity which fully 

* Dupont de I'Eure. Note C. 




DUPONT DE L'EURE 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 121 

proved the sincerity of his attachment to the cause of true 
liberty, and Napoleon promised to respect the mercantile and 
industrial interests. But these promises, it was soon seen, 
were not intended to be fulfilled, and the bourgeoisie refused 
to oppose the invading armies by stirring up the populace, so 
imbued with the war spirit, or by rushing itself to arms. The 
cannon of Waterloo broke the talisman which seemed to give 
Napoleon a supernatural command, and the Bourbons re-en- 
tered France, '* floated on the tide of invasion, like its foam." 
Meanwhile Louis Philippe had been busy at Twickenham 
in attaching to his interest the leaders of the bourgeoisie 
which was becoming so powerful at Paris, together with 
some ambitious military men, and had in his pay the cel- 
ebrated Fouche, who managed to get himself nominated a 
member of the Provisional Government after the battle of 
Waterloo. Determined to retain his official position, let 
who would be ruler of France, Fouche corresponded with 
the court of Louis XVIIL at Ghent, and with the partisans 
of Napoleon II. at Vienna, while he addressed letters to 
every member of the Congress of Nations, advocating the 
claims of Louis Philippe. " The personal qualities of the 
Duke of Orleans, the recollections of Jamappes, the possi- 
bility of forming a treaty which could conciliate all inter- 
ests, the name of Bourbon, which will be of service out of 
France without being named at home — all these objects 
offer in the choice of the Duke of Orleans a prospect of 
repose and security, even to those who would look upon it 
as promising tranquillity." Talleyrand was of the same 
opinion, and so inoculated the mind of the Emperor Alex- 
ander, that he persuaded him to ask one day in full Congress : 
*' Would it not be for the interest of Europe that the crown 
of France should be placed on the head of the Duke of 
Orleans'?" After the first feelings of stupefaction which 
followed this unexpected proposition had subsided, it was 
evident that Louis Philippe had at least an equal chance 
with the elder branch, until Lord Castlereagh, by virtue of 
11 



122 RISE AND FALL 

instructions from London, opposed him with all his powerful 
influence. The Court of St. James feared that thus to elevate 
a collateral branch would establish a dangerous precedent, 
which would in time undermine all the thrones of Europe. It 
was resolved to re-establish Louis XVIII. at Paris, and Talley- 
rand wrote to Louis Philippe one significant word — " attcn- 
dez " — wait ! 

Returning to Paris, Louis Philippe found himself coolly- 
received at court, and the king made no secret of his limited 
confidence in him, although he annulled the act of seques, 
tration which Napoleon had imposed upon his estates. Prof- 
iting by a royal ordinance which called all Princes of the 
blood to take seats in the Chamber of Peers, he nobly oppos- 
ed an address to the King which called for vengeance against 
Ney, Labedoyere, Chartran and others. The address contain- 
ed the following paragraph : " Without depriving the crown of 
the benefits of clemency, we dare to recommend strict justice 
— we dare humbly to solicit from its equity, the necessary 
distribution of rewards and of penalties, and the purification 
of the public administration." 

Well aware that this was but the authorization of a new 
Reign of Terror, several Peers proposed partial amend- 
ments, but the infuriated royalists opposing them, Louis 
Philippe said : — " All that I have just heard, confirms 
me in the opinion that the Chamber should take a more 
decisive stand than that proposed by the amendments. I 
propose that the entire paragraph be suppressed. Let us 
leave to the King the care of providing, in a constitutional 
manner, the necessary precautions for the maintenance of 
public order. We must not make demands which will be 
the means of disturbing the tranquillity of the State. Our 
character of actual judges of those towards whom we recom- 
mend justice, rather than clemency, should impose upon us 
an absolute silence respecting them. Every annunciation of 
preconceived opinions appears to me a perversion of our 
judicial functions, and we constitute ourselves at once 
accusers and judges." 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



123 



The proposition was adopted, though many fatal execu- 
tions and proscriptions took place, some of which, says an 
English writer, " overshadowed the great name of the Duke 
of Wellington, and revived the worst memories of the French 
Republic." Take, for instance, the cold-blooded murder of 
one of the bravest soldiers of France, which a word from 
^' the Duke" might have prevented. A statesman of the 
time thus describes it: "At nine o'clock in the morning, 
Ney stepped into a hackney-coach, dressed in a blue frock. 
He had sent to ask M. de Semonville for a bottle of Bor- 
deaux, and had drunk it. The grand referendary accom- 
panied the Marshal to the coach; the cure of St. Surplice 
was by his side, and two officers of gendarmerie on the box. 
The dismal party crossed the Luxembourg gardens on the 
observatory side. On passing the iron gate it turned to the 
left and halted fifty paces further on under the wall of the 
avenue. The coach having stopped, the Marshal stepped 
out nimbly, and standing eight paces from the wall, said to 
the officer, * Is this the place, sir?' — ' Yes, Monsieur le 
Marechal.' Ney then took off his hat with his left hand, 
laid his rigrht on his heart, and addressing; the soldiers, cried 
out, ' Comrades, fire on me.' The officer gave the signal to 
fire, and Ney fell without making any motion." 

A repeal of the ordinance, by virtue of which the. Princes 
of the blood sat in the Chamber of Peers, was a direct 
rebuke of the course which Louis Philippe had pursued, 
indorsed by a positive refusal of his tendered services in 
the formation of the new government. Some of the minis- 
ters even urged his exile to Palermo, but Louis Philippe 
went voluntarily to England, and for the third time was a 
resident of Twickenham. 



124 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XVI. 

During Louis Philippe's residence at Twickenham, he 
''looked through the loop-holes of retreat," at what was 
going on in Paris with apparent indifference, but w^as in 
secret correspondence with the now degraded soldiers of 
the Imperial army and the bourgeoisie. At the head of the 
latter faction was the Duke Decazes, then and afterwards 
Louis Philippe's tool, and in every way calculated to carry 
out his schemes. Possessing an imposing person, insinu- 
ating manners, and business habits, he had risen from an 
inferior position through Louis Philippe's influence, and 
fully comprehended his position, carrying out the views of 
his patron with supple sagacity. Louis XVIII. was easily 
prepossessed in his favor by the political gossip with which 
he enlivened his reports as head of the Police, and when 
the dissatisfied Chamber of Deputies demanded a change 
of the first appointed Royalist Ministry, Monsieur Decazes 
received a port-folio, and riveted his position by saying in his 
bland manner : "I trust to make the King — not as Henry 
III. the Chief of the Leaguers, but as Henry IV. the father 
of his people." The Bourbons were thus flattered, like the 
Trappist monks, into digging their own grave, under the 
direction of the Duke Decazes — he obeying the orders of 
Louis Philippe. 

This recognition of the popular party on the part of Louis 
XVin., and the admission of their ostensible leader into his 
cabinet, was violently opposed by the partisans of arbitrary 
principles, headed by the Count of Artois, then heir appa- 
rent, who was naturally fond of contention and intrigue. 
Sustained by the remnants of ancient nobility, he demanded 
the re-establishment of the new rights of primogeniture and 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 125 

entail, the restoration of church privileges, the proscription 
of all who had ever opposed the Bourbons, — in short, that 
France should be governed as she was under Louis XIV. 
These ultra views were sustained by Chateaubriand, De la 
Mennais, and other able champions, while, in support of 
the " King and People," pamphlets were published in pro- 
fusion by Madame de Stael, Benjamin Constant, the Abbe 
de Pradt, and a host of others of less notoriety. " With 
such leaders, it is easy to conceive that the quarrel was pur- 
sued with ample spirit, and there is no record in the annals 
of literary warfare of a controversy which has called for 

a more brilliant exhibition of taste and talent, or of which 

. . . "^ 

the monuments wdl be read with more interest in future 

times, when the party feelings of the present day shall have 

passed away forever." * 

Louis Philippe, strange as it may appear, openly espoused 

the feudal principles of the Count of Artois, whose favorite 

son, the Duke of Berri, was married on the 24th of April, 

1816, to Carolina Ferdinanda Louisa, Princess of Naples, 

and niece to the Duchess of Orleans. One who knew her 

says, that her life is even more romantic than that of her 

uncle Louis Philippe, and that while few women have ever 

lived, whose passions have betrayed them into more acts of 

indiscretion and impropriety, few have ever possessed such 

admiring and devoted followers. When young, she had the 

art of making herself loved to a greater degree than almost 

any other woman of her time, and to this day the name of 

the Duchess of Berri carries a talismanic influence with it, 

even in the liberal saloons of Paris. Louis XVIIL was 

devotedly fond of her, and it was by her intercessions that 

Louis Philippe obtained permission to return to France, 

though the King would not receive him at Court except in 

the most formal manner, or permit him to assume the title of 

* Alexander H. Everett's French Revolution. 
11* 



126 RISE AND FALL 

" Royal Highness." Neither was he allowed to sit in the 
Chamber of Peers, or to hunt in the crown forests, for 
the King regarded him as a secret yet dangerous foe. 

Notwithstanding this want of cordiality at Court, Louis 
Philippe appeared to enjoy himself, holding levees at the 
Palais Royal, giving rural entertainments at his country 
palace at Neuilly, or inviting large parties to his marine 
villa at Eu, When with the Count of Artois he used to 
lament the policy of the King as being too much influ- 
enced by the hourgeois Decazes — yet that Minister was 
his frequent visitor, and the malcontents of all periods found 
his doors open to them. Horace Vernet decorated his 
saloons with pictures of the battles of the ^Empire, which 
attracted all the faithful friends of Napoleon ; Beranger 
used to sing his inimitable yet seditious songs at his table ; 
David reproduced the features of the leaders in '89 in mar- 
ble for his gallery ; Lafitte, with his mercantile friends, was 
always welcome ; Foy, Casimer Perier, and Manuel, were 
constant visitors — and to all of these he used severely to 
attack the conduct of the reigning House, deplore with 
them its attempts upon the liberties of the people, and 
ominously hint at a counter revolution. " Activity, persever- 
ance, caution, and patience, and ever be constant to the 
Palais Royal, my good friend," was ever the conclusion of 
these conferences.* The young Princes were sent to the 
public schools, and permitted to associate with the merry 
bands who play in the Tuileries, while Louis Philippe care- 
fully looked after his immense revenues. There were few 
joint stock companies established in which he had not shares, 
and his burly figure, with a large green umbrella under the 
arm, was often seen " on Change." 

For some years the Duke Decazes completely ruled 
France, by alternately encouraging the friends of constitu- 



* Memoirs of Jacques Lafitte, 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 127 

tional monarchy and of hereditary succession, but in 1820 
he overplayed his part, and called into the Cabinet new 
ministers from each faction. The hourgeoisie regarded this 
as an abandonment of the party which had raised him into 
power, and the Royalists looked upon the would-be pacifica- 
tor as a conquered suitor, so that his project was at once 
drowned by the waves of popular opinion which ran too 
high on either side for tranquillity. To annihilate it, came 
the terrible assassination of the Duke of Berri, with a 
dagger, as he was leaving the Opera on the 13th of Feb- 
ruary, 1820, by a journeyman saddler named Louvel, who 
had vowed to extirpate the Bourbons. This was adroitly 
laid to the progress of liberal sentiments, and the Royalists 
easily persuaded the King to dismiss his Ministry, M. de 
Chateaubriand remarking, "that the foot of M. Decazes 
had slipped in the blood of the Duke of Berri." 

Louis Philippe is charged with having instigated this 
assassination, but there is no prOof that he had the slightest 
cognizance of it, neither is it true that he protested against 
the legitimacy of the Duke of Bordeaux, son of the Duchess 
of Berri, who was born on the 29th of September following 
his father's murder. His connection with Charbonnerie is 
more certain, though the only evidence of that is the fact 
that his known emissaries were engaged in the complot, and 
had ample funds at their disposal. 

This Charhonnerie was modelled after the Carbonari o^ 
Italy, and although Louis Blanc chooses to assert that it 
was " hatched by Free Masonry," his subsequent description 
of its secret organization is a sufficient proof that it had 
not the slightest connection with that time-honored institu- 
tion. Some of its founders were undoubtedly members of 
the " Friends of Truth Lodge," which was deprived of its 
charter by the Grand Lodge for indulging in political discus- 
sion, and afterwards was implicated in a riot, where one of its 
members named Lallemand was killed. The disaffected then 
re-orgai^zed, calling themselves Charhonnerie, and adopting 



128 RISE AND FALL 

a mystic code which, Louis Blanc says, with an air of would- 
be wisdom, rendered them " the militant part of Free Ma- 
sonry." These were its principal features : 

" It was agreed that around a parent association called the haute 
vente, there should be formed under the name of rentes centrales 
other associations, which again were to have under them ventes 
particulieres. The number of members in each association was 
limited to twenty, to evade the provisions of the penal code. The 
haute vente was originally composed of the seven founders of 
Charbonnerie, Bazard, Flotard, Buchez, Dugied, Carriol, Joubert, 
and Limperani. It filled up vacancies in its own body. 

" The following was the method adopted to form the ventes 
centrales: Two members of the haute vente took a third person as 
their associate, without making him acquainted with their rank, 
and they named him president of the incipient vente, at the same 
time assuming to themselves the one the title of deputy, the other 
that of censor. The duty of the deputy being to correspond with 
the superior association, and that of censor to control the proceed- 
ings of the secondary association, the haute vente became by these 
means the brain as it were of each of the ventes it created, whilst 
it remained, in relation to them, mistress of its own secret and of 
its own acts. 

" The ventes particulieres were only administrative subdivisions, 
having for objects to avoid the complications which the progress 
of Charbonnerie might introduce into the relations between the 
haute vente and the deputies of the ventes centrales. As the latter 
emanated from the parent society, so did the inferior societies from 
the secondary. There was an admirable elasticity in this arrange- 
ment : the ventes were speedily multiplied ad infinitum. 

"The impossibility of altogether baffling the efforts of the 
police had been clearly foreseen ; in order to diminish the impor- 
tance of this difflculty, it was agreed that the several ventes should 
act in common, without, however, knowing each other, so that the 
police might not be able to lay hold on the whole ramification of 
the system, except by penetrating the secrets of the haute vente. 
It was consequently forbidden every charbonnier belonging to 
one vente to attempt to gain admission into another, and this pro- 
hibition was backed by the penalty of death. 



OF LOUIS nilLIPPE. 129 

" The founders of Charbonnerie had counted on the support of 
the troops ; hence the doable organization given to the system. 
Each rente was subjected to a military staff, the gradations of 
which were parallel with those of the civil officership. Corres- 
ponding respectively with charbonnerie, the haute vente, the venies 
centrales, and the ventes particulieres , there were the legion, the 
cohortes, the centuries, and the manipules. When Charbonnerie 
acted civilly, the military officership was in abeyance ; on the other 
hand, when it acted in a military point of view, the functions of 
the civil officers were suspended. Independently of the force de- 
rived from the play of these two powers, and from their alternate 
government, the double denominations they rendered necessary, 
affijrded a means of baffling the researches of the police. 

" The duties of the charbonnier were, to have in his possession 
a gun and fifty cartridges, to be ready to devote himself, and 
blindly to obey the orders of unknown leaders. 

" Charbonnerie, thus constituted, spread in a very brief space of 
time through all quarters of the capital. It made its way into all 
the classes of the university. An indescribable fire glowed in 
every vein of the Parisian youth ; every one kept the secret ; 
every one was ready to devote his life to the cause. The members 
of each vente recognized each other by means of particular signs, 
and mysterious reviews were held. Inspectors were appointed in 
several ventes, whose duty it was to see that no member failed to 
have a musket and cartridges. The members were drilled in their 
houses, and often was the exercise performed on a floor covered 
with straw. And all the while this singular conspiracy was 
extending itself, protected by a silence and reserve without par- 
allel, and surrounding the society with a thousand invisible meshes, 
the government was tranquilly slumbering in the shade ! " 

Thus far this mystic force was apparently directed by 
some invisible hand, whether that of Louis Philippe, or not, 
nothing positive is known. But it is clearly ascertained 
that upon admitting influential Republicans into the secret, 
they gave the matter a diflferent turn, and advocated a 
Provisional Government in case of an outbreak, to consist 
of Lafayette, Dupont de I'Eure, and three others. Then 
Manuel and his friends, who had thus far upheld Charlon- 



130 RISE AND FALL 

nerie, more or less openly, withdrew their support, and 
endeavored to persuade Lafayette and his colleagues from 
sanctioning the intended outbreak. When it did burst 
forth, it was in so feeble a manner that Government easily 
suppressed it, the " four Sergeants," selected as examples, 
were beheaded in Paris, and " thenceforth Charbonnerie 
only dragged on its way through its martyr's gore." 

The assassination of the Duke of Berri and this danger- 
ous complot so deprived Louis XVIII. of all courage, that 
he surrendered his rule to the Count of Artois, whose con- 
duct grew more arbitrary than before. On the 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1824, the nominal King, who had drained the cup 
of voluptuousness to its bitter dregs, and over whose coun- 
tenance the ghastly pallor of death was fast stealing, was 
lifted into an arm-chair — to die. The Count of Artois was 
there, with his young grandson, and all the Cabinet minis- 
ters. " Before I die, Charles," said the expiring monarch, 
*' let me tell you that I have dealt with all parties as did 
Henry IV., and die in my room more fortunate than he was. 
Do you as I have done, my brother, and you will die as I 
die. I forgive you all the pain you have caused me." Then 
beckoning to have the Duke of Bordeaux led to him, he laid 
his hand on the boy's head, saying : " bless thee, my child, 
and may my brother husband tenderly your crown." 

Five minutes afterwards, the general officers heard foot- 
steps approaching the royal entrance of their saloon, and 
held their breaths — the doors were thrown open, and the 
Master of Ceremonies announced " the King, gentlemen ! " 
The Count of Artois, thenceforth Charles X., received the 
homage of all present, and then repaired to the balcony of 
the Palace, where the Master of Ceremonies, breaking his 
rod of office, cried " The King is Dead." His successor 
then stepped forward to the front of the balcony, and there 
went up from the assembled populace of Versailles a deaf- 
ening shout of " Vine le RoV Foremost among the cour- 
tiers who echoed it upon the balcony was Louis Philippe. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 131 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Charles X., who had been most unpopular as heir to 
the throne, became the very idol of the Parisians on ascend- 
ing it, and an English writer, who was present when he 
first entered the capital, speaks of a religious enthusiasm 
which pervaded it in favor of the Chevalier King. Change 
itself was no inconsiderable blessing to such a people ; and 
wearied with a decrepid monarch, swathed in flannel, they 
delighted themselves in the possession of a King who en- 
joyed the pre-eminent advantage of bearing himself gal- 
lantly on horseback. Charles X. courted popularity, and 
had in his favor all the external circumstances which pro- 
cure li. Courteous, dignified, with a peculiarly royal air, 
and a singular grace of expression, his manner and his con- 
versation were very far superior to himself, though it is er- 
roneous, notwithstanding all his errors, to suppose that he 
did not possess a certa:in ability. Some generous expres- 
sions which were attributed to him on his entry into Paris, 
and the abolition of the censorship of the press, completed 
his popularity, and rendered him the idol of the Parisians. 
Even the Republicans, whom the last reign had inspired 
wdth a deep and almost desperate dissatisfaction, paused 
for a while ; but, first doubting, finally disappointed, they 
added to the list of their wrongs the vainness of those hopes 
that had been excited, and with a more dark and determined 
spirit pursued their reveries of revenge,* While they met 
at the Palais Royal, Louis Philippe was busily engaged in 
obtaining all that he could from the King, whose downfall 
he was plotting — even as his father had accepted favors 

* Bulvver's France. 



132 RISE AND FALL 

from Louis XVI., while engaged in intrigues which he 
crowned with his fatal death vote. 

The new monarch was not forgetful of his uncle's pre- 
vious adherence, and in less than a fortnight after the old 
King died, would in person inform Louis Philippe that, by 
his decree, he was thenceforth to bear the title of " Royal 
Highness," so long coveted. A letter has found its way 
into print, giving an account of the interview : 

" Neuilly, 21st September, 1824. 
"I hasten, Sir, to inform you that the King having sent me 
word last night to be with him to-day at noon, I waited on his 
Majesty a few moments before he went to mass. As soon as I was 
introduced into his closet, I began by thanking him for his kind- 
ness, and added that we had been particularly touched with that 
he evinced to us the day before yesterday. Then, as 1 observed 
that I had never understood the distinction between the Royal 
Family and Princes of the Blood, and that I did not better un- 
derstand why there should be any other pre-eminence and dis- 
tinction among us than that of birthright, and the precedency that 
was derived from it, the King said that the late King had con- 
ceived a wrong notion on the point, which he had been sorry to 
see ; but that we were all one and the same family ; that we had 
but one common interest ; and that he wished us to consider him as 
a father, and ever to be most united. We intend going to-morrow 
to St. Cloud between eleven and twelve, in order to thank the 
King for his kindness in granting us the title of Royal Highness. 

" Louis Philippe." 

The Duchess of Orleans and her daughters were now 
constant visitors at the Palace, where they were received 
with the most marked attention, and greatly beloved. " They 
are delicious creatures, those demoiselles d'Orleans," said 
the Duchess of Berri, as they left on one occasion the favor- 
ite evening sitting-room of the royal family ; " there is not, 
dear grandpapa, such another family in your Majesty's do- 
minions." Indeed, too much praise cannot be bestowed 
upon the parental government of Louis Philippe, whose 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



133 



home circle was the admiration of Paris. ^' Its members," 
wrote Madame de Genlis in her diary, " are charming by 
their personal attractions, by their natural qualities and edu- 
cation, and by the reciprocal attachment of parents and 
children." 

Under the pretence of providing for his children, the 
new "Royal Highness" was to have a law substituted for 
the ordonnance which conferred on him the Orleans ap- 
panages. Charles X., who, according to the words quoted 
by Louis Philippe above, wished all the Princes of his 
house to consider him as a father, resolved to gratify that 
wish also. He was obliged to have recourse to authority 
with a Royalist Chamber, which had inherited the distrust 
Louis XVHL entertained against the Orleans family. The 
majority, which belonged to the droite, wanted to reject 
the measure, but, according to M. Sarrans, Charles X sum- 
moned to the Tuileries the most untractable Deputies, and 
warned them that they would personally wound him if they 
rejected the clause relative to the Duke of Orleans ; and that 
he would consider as an attack on his family any attack 
that, in the debate on the Civil List, might be directed 
against the former conduct of a Prince, whose fidelity and 
devotedness were no longer doubtful. 

To render the matter certain, Louis Philippe prevailed 
on Charles X. to order the clause respecting the appanage 
to be inserted into his own civil list law, so that the one 
could not be rejected without the other being also rejected. 
This was what M. de Labourdonnaye, in his lively and pic- 
turesque language, called faire la contrabande dans les 
carosses du Roi. The distrust of the Royalist Custom- , 
house was thus overcome, and the smuggled article passed. 

M. Capefigue, a conservative historian, cites several other 
instances of favors heaped upon Louis Philippe, among 
them the following, which most people regarded as a di- 
rect gift. The patrimonial property of Louis Philippe had 
lawfully devolved to the State, at least to the amount of 
12 



134 RISE AND FALL 

37,740,000 francs, which the State had paid to his father's 
creditors, in pursuance of the compact he had entered into 
with them on the 9th of January, 1792, which compact gave 
rise to the sequestration put on all his property in 1793. 
Now this sequestration was followed, in the 11th year of the 
Republic, by the settling of the creditors' claims, and pay- 
ment of most of them, whereby the State succeeded to the 
rights of the creditor. Nevertheless Louis Philippe was, on 
the solicitation of Charles X., and contrary to the will of 
M. de Viliele, his Minister, admitted to the amount of 
16,000,000 francs into the liquidation of the indemnity 
granted to the emigrants by the law of the 17th of April, 
1825. 

In May, 1825, Charles X. was crowned at Rheims with 
all the pompous magnificence and the monkish superstitions 
of the olden time. The sword of Charlemagne was girded 
to his side, the spurs of St. Louis were buckled to his 
heels, and when anointed with that holy oil " originally 
brought by a dove from heaven, to consecrate Bourbon 
kings," Louis Philippe shed tears of joy. He was, after 
the King, the most prominent actor on the occasion, and 
swore everlasting fidelity with a loud, clear voice. Not only 
did he strive to testify, by lively and multiplied demonstra- 
tions, his sentiments towards the King, but he was profuse 
in expressive gestures of devotedness whenever any of the 
royal family were mentioned. " It was quite worth while," 
says a historian, " to see Louis Philippe at the royal banquet, 
putting his hand to his heart at every toast to the King, 
Madame, and the Duke d'Angouleme. He himself would, 
at dinner, often shout * Vive le Roi ! ' as if moved by a 
powerful feeling, which could not wait for the moment of 
etiquette." 

One of Charles X.'s first regal acts was an edict, ordering 
the executioner to burn all copies of a book called "Memoires 
de Maria Stella,^' a woman who asserted that she was the 
dauo-hter of the late Duke of Orleans, and Louis Philippe 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



135 



the son of an Italian, her mother having consented to their 
exchange when infants, in order to present her husband 
with an heir. He also prevailed on M. de Lamartine, wlien 
his coronation took place, to substitute for this line, which 
gave great pain to liOuis Philippe, 

*' Le fils a rachete les crimes de son pere," 
this other line, 

" Le fils a rachete les amies de son pere." 

Not long after this, Charles X. created Louis Philippe's 
eldest son Ferdinand, Knight of the Holy Ghost, and ap- 
pointed that young Prince Colonel of the Orleans Hussar 
Regiment. The Duchess of Orleans had also permission 
to present the infamous Madame de Feucheres at court, 
whence she had been expelled by Louis XVHL, a step 
which diverted the rich succession of the Duke of Bourbon 
from the Tuileries to the Palais Royal, It was only on the 
positive refusal of the Duchess of Berri to accept the offers 
of Madame de Feucheres, that the latter addressed herself 
to Louis Philippe — as will be seen in the following extract 
from Sarrut. " One day," says this reliable writer, " a per- 
son of the Duke of Bourbon's household, waited on one of 
the Duchess of Berri's high officers, and, after many pre- 
cautions, turned the conversation on Madame de Feucheres. 
* She has been ill-judged of,' said the visitor, ' and very 
severely treated. The expulsion from the Palace has caused 
her the utmost grief If there were means of obliterating 
that recollection, and of having the Baroness de Feucheres 
again admitted to Court, and if" Madame" condescended to 
use her influence for the purpose, I may venture to say that 
she would afford proof both of goodness and cleverness. 
The Duke of Bourbon is advanced in years. Madame de 
Feucheres's influence over him is greater than ever, and 
the house of Conde is rich, as you know. As regards the 



136 RISE AND FALL 

Duke of Bourdeaux, his fortune is secured ; it is the Crown 
of France ; but such is not the case with his sister.' The 
answer returned was, that there existed not the slightest 
inclination to take charcre of such a neo^otiation, and that it 
was not doubtful that whoever took charge of it would meet 
with a very unpleasant reception. The Duchess of Berri, 
to whom this conversation was reported on the very same 
evening, greatly approved of the reply, and added that she 
would not hear of any such matters. The Barroness de 
Feucheres's emissary then addressed himself to Louis Phi- 
lippe, who eagerly received the overtures, and commenced 
that splendid campaign of the succession, which ended by 
Madame de Feucheres's return to Court, and the conquest 
of the invaluable will, which-has transferred all the property 
of the House of Conde to the Duke of Aumale." 

Anxious to render the fourth son of his '' beloved cousin 
Philippe," (as he was familiarly called at the Palace,) the 
richest Prince in Europe, by this succession, Charles X. ac- 
tually went so far as to command the members of his family 
to receive with politeness the unprincipled wanton, who grati- 
fied her vanity by taking advantage of her power over the 
feeble Duke of Bourbon. "To leave the fortune of the 
Condes," says Louis Blanc, "■ to a family which the enemies 
of the nobility and monarchy had had at their head, seemed 
to the old leader of the armed emigration a crime, and 
almost an act of impiety. He could not have forgotten that, 
transferring his Court into an assembly of regicides, one 
Orleans had voted the death of Louis XVI., and another 
Orleans had combatted under Dumouriez's banner. But, 
on the one hand, how could he refuse without insult what 
he was so well supposed to wish to give, and, on the other, 
how could he stand the passionate fits of Madame de Feu- 
cheres, through whose medium anticipated thanks reached 
him?"* 

* The Baroness de Feucheres. Note D. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 137 

While thus granting favors to Louis Philippe, Charles X. 
pursued a reactionary political policy, which, could it have 
had its sway, would have entirely destroyed the liberties of 
France. An army of 100,000 men was sent into Spain to 
crush the Constitution — the milliard of indemnity money 
granted to the emigrant Royalists depressed government 
stocks — the National Guard was disbanded, — a law of 
primogeniture was proposed — the stamp-tax on newspapers 
was increased — and when some symptoms of independence 
were manifested by the Chamber of Peers, the offended 
Monarch was prevailed upon to avenge himself by creating 
seventy-six new members of that Assembly. In short, the 
unfortunate Charles X., with the swift descent of a misgiv- 
ing sinner, had plunged from the pinnacle of gay debauch, 
where he had sisjnalized his early days, down to the very 
depths of superstition. The Jesuits ruled France. With 
stealthy step, this crafty and ambitious sect had obtained 
such complete ascendancy, that the affairs of religion became 
the daily business of the State — a law was passed punishing 
sacrilege as parricide — another placed the medical schools 
under clerical rule — the opera dancers were commanded to 
elongate their dresses until only so many inches of neck 
and ancles should be exposed — the King walked through 
the streets of Paris in long monkish processions, chaunting 
the Miserere, and the Minister of War gravely informed the 
army (the successors of Napoleon's braves,) that the 16th 
Infantry was excellent at prayers, or the 10th Artillery incom- 
parable at Easter-service. Superstition and absolutism were 
the order of the day, but the bourgeoisie at last became so 
indignant, that the Ministry feared it could no longer com- 
mand a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, and ordered 
the election of a new Chamber. It was decidedly liberal — 
so much so, that the King dismissed M. Villele and the 
other Ministers to call M. Martignac and his friends into 
the cabinet, and promised better things in future. 

There was hope for a time that these promises would all 
12* 



138 RISE AND FALL 

be realized, and the repeal of several ordinances which had 
oppressed the rights of the nation, won from it a cordial 
support of the throne. But Charles X. had no idea of yield- 
ing. Lord Wellington had arrested the march of reform in 
England — the French troops had put down liberty in Spain 
— Don Miguel, supported by Austria, had trampled on the 
Constitution of Portugal — Absolutism had full sway in 
Central Europe — and the French monarch determined to 
enforce an iron rule of despotism upon his subjects. 

Louis Philippe, advised of this outrageous attempt against 
the liberties of France, went over to England to ascertain 
what favor he would meet with if proclaimed King in the 
event of a change of government. His visit was satisfac- 
tory, and he had scarcely returned, when the formation of 
the Polignac cabinet struck the country with amazement. 
The friends of liberty asserted that France had never been 
so basely betrayed. " Yes," said M. de Berenger, " it was 
reserved for our heroic nation to receive from its King more 
outrages in one day, than any foreign power had ever dared 
to offer her." The words " Unfortunate France ! Unfortu- 
nate King ! " which headed an article in the '' Dehats " 
newspaper were echoed throughout the land, and the new 
cabinet was described as attracting into a focus, as it were, all 
the hostile, angry, and dangerous feelings that, differing one 
from the other, various and dispersed, were burning in the 
hearts of the people — and which, in order to be inevitable, 
only wanted to be concentred. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF CHARLES X. 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 139 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

After nine months passed in recriminations, the session 
of the Chambers was opened by a Royal speech, denouncing 
France as a hot-bed of sedition. " If unlawful movements," 
said Charles X., " raise up obstacles in the way of my gov- 
ernment, an event which I cannot and will not anticipate, 
I should derive the necessary strength to surmount them 
from my resolution to uphold the public peace from the just 
confidence of the French, and from the love they have 
always evinced for their King." 

Two hundred and twenty-one members of the Chamber 
of Deputies firmly replied, (though protesting their respect 
^'for the sacred principle of legitimacy:^') ''Our con- 
science, our honor, the fidelity which we have sworn you, 
and which we shall ever maintain, renders it our duty to 
explain the cause of the present difficulties. The situation 
of the country requires the permanent concurrence of the 
political views of your government with the wishes of the" 
people as an indispensable condition of the regular pro- 
gress of public affairs. Sire, our loyalty compels us to say 
to you that this concurrence does not exist between those 
who are unmindful of a nation, so calm and so faithful, and 
us, who, with a profound conviction, come to deposit in your 
bosom the wants of your people. Let the wisdom of your 
Majesty decide." 

The wisdom of the King, or rather the want of it, was 
manifested in the following irrevocable reply: — ''I had 
counted upon the concurrence of the two Chambers, in the 
plan which I had meditated for the security and happiness of 
my people. I grieve to hear the Deputies say that on their 
part, this concurrence does not exist. I have declared my 



140 RISE AND FALL 

resolution in my address ; it is unalterable. The interests 
of my people will prevent me from swerving from it. My 
Ministers will make known to you my wishes.'' On the 
first of September the Chamber was prorogued. 

The symptoms of an approaching crisis succeeded each 
other with frightful rapidity. Associations were formed for 
resisting the payment of taxes, and the stirring odes of 
Beranger were echoed by the stirring appeals of a perse- 
cuted press. The Ministry in vain endeavored to divert the 
belligerent disposition of the populace into a foreign chan- 
nel by invading Algiers, plunging the country into a danger- 
ous and expensive contest, but it was too late. Plans had 
been laid to seize the throne by Louis Philippe, its pledged 
supporter, " the richest and happiest Prince in Europe," as 
Charles X. said, when some priests endeavored to prove that 
he was conspiring. 

Yet at that time he had well matured schemes for the 
overthrow of the dynasty which had restored to him his 
titles, which had opened to him the Courts of Europe by re- 
instating him in its favor in exile — which had favored his 
marriage with Princess Amelie of Naples — which, since the 
Restoration, had restored to him his immense property, 
kindly forgetting that they belonged to the State — which 
had paid his father's debts — which had confirmed that favor 
by imparting to it irrevocability by an article inserted into 
the civil list law, in order to prevent its being rejected by 
the Royalist Chamber of 1825 — which had superadded to 
this first munificence, more friendly than lawful, that of the 
indemnity of 16,000,000 — which had conferred on him and 
his the title of " Royal Highness," so anxiously wished for 
— which had promoted the transfer of the Conde wealth to 
his son — which had given all his sons the decoration of 
cordon lieu — in short, which had done every thing possible 
to merit his loyal gratitude. 

Charles X. could not believe that a Bourbon could be so 
ungrateful as to forget all these favors, and was moreover 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 141 

blinded by the Duke's assiduous courtiership, accompanied 
by obsequious demonstrations of loyal respect. On the 
17th of May, 1830, he dissolved the Chambers, and a . 
few nights afterwards deigned for the first time to attend a 
ball at the Palais Royal, though some of his ministers 
objected to his waiting on the son of " Egalite," and others 
considered it a dereliction of etiquette. Three thousand of 
the bourgeoisie filled the palace, and twice as many of the 
populace were admitted to the garden, while a glare of light 
on every side, like some oriental illumination, disclosed one 
party to the other — the Prince, the mob, the court and the 
bourgeois. Late in the evening the King was announced, 
and Louis Philippe, attended by his family, hastened to 
receive him at the foot of the grand staircase, bowing low 
and expressing in humble terms his gratitude for this mark 
of royal condescension. 

The ball was given in honor of Louis Philippe's father-in- 
law, the King of Naples, and when at its height difficulty 
arose in the garden from some unknown cause, during 
which lamps were thrown about and tables burned. " A 
Neapolitan fete this," said M. de Salvandy to Louis Phi- 
lippe, " we dance on a volcano, like your kinsman when at 
home." Months afterwards a conversation which followed 
this remark was published in the government paper, in which 
Louis Philippe is represented as uttering the most liberal 
sentiments, and asserting that he had nothing to reproach 
himself with. " These remarks, whether really made 
then or not, if they are Louis Philippe's ideas," said a 
writer soon after, "should offer the best security to the 
people whom he governs, if we had not unfortunately so 
many examples of the corrupting influence of power, of 
the heart being changed, and the understanding blinded by 
a successful ambition." Louis Philippe was destined to 
add another example. 

The capture of Algiers did not win any popularity for 
the crown, and a new election proved that the strength of 



142 RISE AND FALL 

the opposition party was increased in the Chamber of 
Deputies. Yet M. Polignac haughtily boasted that with the 
twenty-eight thousand men at his orders, he would sweep 
away any attempt at outbreak like the dust of the streets ; 
and the Archbishop who chaunted Te Deum in the 
Cathedral of Notre Dame for the Algerian victory, said to 
the King, that it was " the presage of one still more impor- 
tant." Liberty was to be conquered, and four royal ordi- 
nances calculated to overthrow its only supports, were decided 
upon at St. Cloud on the evening of the 25th of July, 
Louis Blanc thus describes the signing of this famous sus- 
pension of the constitution of the country — the death 
warrant of the dynasty : — 

" The Dauphin was present. He had at first given his 
voice against the ordonnances ; but he very soon surrendered 
his own opinion in deference to the King's : for the Dauphin 
trembled beneath his father's eye, and carried to a childish 
excess that respect for the head of his family, in which 
Louis XIV. desired that the Bourbon princes should be 
brought up. 

" The Ministers took their places in silence round the 
fatal table. Charles X. had the Dauphin on his right, and 
M. de Polignac on his left. He questioned each of his 
servants one after the other, and when he came to M. 
d'Haussez, that Minister repeated his observations of the 
preceding day. ' Do you refuse ? ' said Charles X. — 
' Sire,' replied the Minister, ' may I be allowed to address 
one question to the King ? Is your Majesty resolved on 
proceeding, should your Ministers draw back ] ' — ' Yes,' 
said Charles X., firmly. The Minister of Marine took the 
pen and signed. 

" When all the sio-natures were affixed, there was a solemn 
and awful pause. An expression of high-wrought energy, 
mingled with uneasiness, sat on the faces of the Ministers. 
M. de Polignac alone wore a look of triumph. Charles X. 
walked up and down the room with perfect composure. As 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE, 



143 



he passed M. d'Haussez, who was looking up with an air of 
deep thought, 'What is it you are looking at so?' he 
said — 'Sire, I was looking round to see if there did not 
happen to be a portrait of Strafford here.' " 

The first of these ordinances pronounced the dissolution 
of the newly elected Chamber of Deputies before it had 
assembled. The second abolished the vote by ballot, de- 
prived a large number of their suffrages, and reduced the 
number of Deputies from four hundred and thirty to two 
hundred and fifty-eight. The third convoked a new Cham- 
ber, to be chosen by the new law of suffrage. To crown 
all, the fourth, in direct violation of the charter, abolished 
the freedom of the press, reviving an edict of 1814, by 
which no periodical journal could be issued without first 
obtaining the sanction of government — to enforce this 
effectually, the presses and types of offending journals were 
to be seized or rendered unserviceable. 

To support him in enforcing these Draconian edicts, 
Charles X. had but a small fraction of the mind or the 
force of the nation. M. de Polignac, (his natural son,) 
brought up in ultramontane maxims, headed an inefficient 
cabinet, despised by the people for its tyrannical and fanatic 
measures. The troops well remembered that it was their 
present commander, Marshal Marmont, who had turned his 
sword against Napoleon, and their officers had been galled 
by the contempt of the restored nobility, whose ancient 
genealogies paled the coats of arms given by the Imperial 
Herald. The bourgeoisie felt that they had no voice in 
directing the government, which their capital, business 
talent, and industry supported; and the people had been 
easily incited against a dynasty which treated the memory 
of their military idol with contempt, recalled the Jesuits, 
and raised the tax on wine, but as to violating the charter, 
they knew little about it, and cared less. 



144 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XIX. 

While Charles X. was thus madly loosing his crown, 
Louis Philippe was quietly making preparations to grasp it 
as it fell, enlisting in his cause, either directly or indirectly, 
all the varied shades of opposition. 

The hourgeoisie were charmed by his condescending 
familiarity and loud professions in favor of a liberal admin- 
istration of government ; Jacques Lafitte, the popular banker, 
ever sounding his praises. The son of a carpenter, Lafitte 
had, by his industry, amassed a collossal fortune, which 
enabled him to control the monetary affairs of France, and 
with which he relieved much want and suffering. He had 
married his daughter to the poor, yet talented son of Mar- 
shal Ney, and thus also acquired a strong hold over the 
Bonapartists, who suffered all the honorable misery of men 
grown old and wasted in glory, oppressed by those who had 
grown old in emigration and mendicity. The great secret 
of Lafitte's influence, however, was his alliance with Beran- 
ger,* the chosen poet of France, whose lyre, like that of 
Juvenal, was tuned by indignation, and poured forth strains 
which shook the very throne. Engaging in a crusade 
against Charles X., he attacked his government with irony 
and scorn, enlisting the national glory against it, and calling 
to his aid the vanquished republicans and overthrown impe- 
rialists, by the power of song. 

Nor was Beranger content with addressing himself to the 
soul, mind, courage, and independence of the people. He 
knew the character of his countrymen, and spoke besides to 
their senses — to their passions, and their appetites. He 



Beranger. Note E. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 145 

mingled together liberty and the pleasures of the table — 
crushed the Grand Almoner while he praised the charms 
of Lisette, and launched his thunder against the Jesuits, 
while he sang to the youthful graces of Jeanneton. Com- 
bining the talents of Anacreon and TyrtsBus, he wore 
a double crown — of thorny laurels and of thornless roses — 
and in proportion as his grisettes were of easy access, was 
his political aim difficult to divine. All ages found some- 
thing to admire in his varied stanzas — the young girl as 
well as the old soldier, the peasant as well as the revolution- 
ist, drank eagerly from the cup of love and liberty which 
he presented. His songs resounded from the English chan- 
nel to the Pyrenees, entering into all memories, and by the 
force of noble and daring thought fixing upon all hearts a 
profound contempt for Charles X. 

Guizot, Thiers, Mignet, Michelet, and a host of other 
writers, re-echoed the same sentiments in the University 
and the daily press, wielding against the imprudent mon- 
arch the mighty influence of letters, which in France pre- 
dominates over all others. They attacked every thing that 
bore the name of legitimate royalty, and likened the reign- 
ing branch of the Bourbons to the English house of Stuart. 
Across the channel a monarch had been dethroned without 
politically convulsing society, and they boldly inquired if 
France could not do likewise ? In olden times, when the 
great mass of the French had little honor to win or 
property to lose, history had little influence, but now that a 
division of fortunes had placed almost every office within 
the reach of the hourgeoiserie, they looked to it as a prac- 
tical lesson for examples. The historians became popular 
oracles with them, as they gained an influence over the 
Bonapartists and Republicans, by depicting their triumphs 
in gorgeous colors. As to the power of the newspaper press, 
so universally exercised in the present century, it is only 
necessary to say that its influence in France is quadruple 
what it is in the United States. Directed through such 
13 



146 RISE AND FALL 



channels, the attacks of the " hommes de lettres " shook the 
very foundations of the throne, and the result fully realized 
the fine passage which Bulwer puts into the mouth of his 
sao-acious hero. Cardinal Richelieu : 



the PEN is iniffhter than the sword. 



Behold the arch enchanter's wand ! Itself nothing ! 
But catching sorcery from the master-hand 
To paralyze the Csesars, and to strike 
The loud earth breathless ! " 

Many of these master-minds were members of a revolu- 
tionary society called " Aide-toi et le del faidera,'^ (aid 
thyself, and Heaven will aid thee,) which numbered Garnier 
Pages, Odilon Barrot, Manuel Foy, and other popular ora- 
tors, who exercised a great influence upon the people. 
They had, amidst the smoke of battle-fields and the exigen- 
cies of war, lost sight of oratory as of most other severe 
studies of poetic leisure, and now dwelt with rapture on 
free voices, speaking freely. Speech, like the sword, is a 
formidable weapon when wielded by those who have courage, 
and march boldly on to the assault. 

One solitary priest was among this formidable opposition, 
for Charles X. was too much of a devotee not to enlist the 
church on his side. Bat this exception, to use the words of 
Janin, was one who thought like Bossuet, and wrote like 
Jean Jacques Rousseau — one of those spirits which are 
naturally rebellious because they are never didy appreciated. 
A democrat after the manner of an old apostle, this organ 
between the gospel and the charter — this constitutional 
Luther — this energetic orator, whose denunciation crushed 
all upon whom it fell — to sum up in one word, this Father 
de la Mennais was one of the most powerful opponents of 
Charles X. Calling to him all the griefs, all the humili- 
ations, all the miseries, and all the opinions of disordered 
humanity, he filled their wasted and weary souls with popu- 
lar vengeance. Having found it impossible to make himself 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 147 

comprehended as an expounder of his own creed, he applied 
that creed to politics in a democratic sense, and became the 
most powerful politician of the age. The Pope fulminated 
his thunder against him, and he sent the bolts back with 
doubled force against Charles X., Defender of the Holy 
Church. 

There was yet another branch of this hydra-headed oppo- 
sition — the women, who have ever exercised in France a 
greater influence, both in politics and literature, than they 
have in any other land since the days of Egyptian greatness. 
An English writer says, that, although excluded from the 
throne and sceptre by the Salic law, they have frequently 
ruled by a power stronger than all law; and amidst a people 
vain, frivolous, chivalric, gallant, and fond of pleasure, 
the women have taken up their place in life by the side of 
the men. More adroit in their conduct, quicker in their 
perceptions, than the less subtle sex, they have ruled abso- 
lutely in those times when adroitness of conduct and quick- 
ness of perception have been the qualities most essential to 
pre-eminence. And the heroism of Joan d' Arc, the courage of 
Charlotte Corday, the barbarities committed by the fishwomen 
in the first revolution, show that they are not wanting when 
enterprise and daring are demanded. Who that has read 
French history forgets the powerful De Maintenon, the win- 
ning Pompadour, the intriguing De Longueville, the ingenious 
Scuderi, the epicurean Ninon, the agreeable Sevigne, the 
much loved De Lorme, the heroic Roland, the intelligent De 
Stael — in short, there is not a page but has to speak of 
some female reputation — nor is there a path to fame which 
female footsteps have not trod ! Madame Adelaide of Orleans 
is well known to have played an active part in the (as yet 
undefined) efforts of her brother to seize the throne. It is 
certain that she prevailed upon Talleyrand to join the dis- 
contented faction, that she promised office and honors to 
the wives of prominent men in the case of her brother's 
success, and that her morganic husband, Baron Athalin, 



148 



RISE AND FALL 



was the orsfan of communication between the clubs and the 
Palais Royal. 

With all these powerful auxiliaries, Louis Philippe felt 
conscious of success in the inevitable struggle. His plans 
were so well matured that he was able to stand aloof, and 
not only to deceive the King, but Lafayette and the Repub- 
licans. Instead of seizing the crown, he intended to accept 
it when offered to him by those whom he saw would not 
be disposed to submit to the despotic rule he projected. 
The publication of the ordinances lit the train which he 
had so carefully laid, and the subsequent explosion proved 
his ability in undermining the dynasty which had granted 
him so many favors, and which he had sworn to uphold. 



FAC-SIMILE OP THE SIGNATURE OF CHATEAUBRIAND. 





l-^ lA IV^ X \j^\;k 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 149 



CHAPTER XX. 

It was on Monday morning, the 26th of July, 1830, that 
the " Moniteur,'' Charles X.'s official journal, published the 
obnoxious ordonnances, the effect of which was to entirely 
abrogate the charter. By eleven o'clock they were generally 
known, and groups were assembled from time to time in the 
Palais Royal, discussing their object and effect, but there 
were no signs of popular commotion ; business went on as 
usual, and there was a full attendance in the evening at the 
theatres and dancing gardens. 

The editors of newspapers, w^ho thus found their pens 
bridled, met in the morning at the elder Mr. Dupin's, to 
know if the law would not justify them in publishing with- 
out a license ; but they found him awed, and unwilling to 
take any decisive measures. They determined nevertheless 
to hold a meeting, protest against the ordonnances, and 
issue their papers the next morning without obtaining li- 
censes. At the Institute of France Mr. Arago delivered 
an eulogy on Fresnel, into which he introduced some 
spirited allusions to the glaring usurpation which had been 
attempted on the liberties of the country. 

Count de la Borde presided at a meeting of the editors 
held at the office of the ''National'"' in the afternoon, when, 
after an animated discussion, the publication of a protest, 
and a resistance to the ordonnances, was decided upon. 
Believing that Charles X. would have a temporary triumph 
— for it was impossible to imagine that a government which 
deliberately invited insurrection was not prepared to resist 
it — the editors displayed a spirit worthy of their position 
as sentinels on the watchtower of freedom. Their protest 
was bold, representing the disobedience of the unlawful 

13* 



150 RISE AND FALL 

ordonnances as sacred, and asserting that '' when a legal 
reign had ended, that of force commenced." By sunset, 
proof slips of the next morning's papers, containing this 
protest, were profusely distributed, and produced an electric 
effect upon the Parisians. 

The liberal Deputies were called together in the evening, 
and urged to issue a similar protest, but they hesitated. The 
students of the Qaartier Latin were making cartridges, for 
Count de la Borde had said that morning to a deputation 
which they had sent to the editor's meeting, urging a re- 
course to arms : " Gentlemen, you are right — our country 
no longer claims from us empty words ; unanimous action, 
vigorous and powerful, can alone save her liberties." And 
from the low wine shops around the Palais Royal there is- 
sued bands of men, each carrying a bundle of the protests, 
who scattered themselves among the dancing-gardens in the 
suburbs, paying for liberal potations in which to drink the 
downfall of Charles X. — telling the workmen that they 
were all to be dismissed the next day — and shouting " Vive 
la Charted " Live the Charter," echoed from thousands of 
lips, they knew not exactly why, but with its overthrow the 
intriguing agents of Louis Philippe cunningly wove in, the 
occupation of Paris by the allies, the disgrace of the cher- 
ished tricolor, and the banishment of Napoleon. To pos- 
sess a charter, according to Prince Polignac, who knew the 
Parisians well, is for the populace the full enjoyment of 
"three things — work to do, cheap bread, and few taxes to 
pay." 

On Tuesday morning very few of the shops were open, 
and the garden of the Palais Royal was filled with the pop- 
ulace, listening to inflammatory harangues from the revolu- 
tionary agitators, who strove to impress upon their audiences 
that a charter was all that was necessary to alleviate their 
condition. By noon large bodies of the lower classes were 
parading the streets, uttering imprecations upon the obnox- 
ious Ministers, and shouting "Vive la Charte," 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 151 

Unluckily for Charles X. he intrusted the command of 
Paris to Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, who had betrayed Na- 
poleon, and permitted the allied army to enter Paris. With 
only 12,000 men under the orders of this detested com- 
mander, the government now resolved to enforce its edicts, 
and a Commissaire of Police, supported by a company of 
gend'armes was sent to seize the presses of the ''Temps," one 
of the refractory journals. The house thus menaced was 
situated in the Rue Richelieu, one of the most frequented 
thoroughfares of Paris, and the presses which it was in- 
tended to seize were in the buildings at the further end of a 
large court. The approach of the commissaire being an- 
nounced, Mr. Baude had the doors of the printing-house 
locked, and the gates opening on the street thrown wide 
open. The workmen, the contributors, and all the persons 
employed on the paper in any capacity, drew up in two files ; 
Mr. Baude stationed himself in the space between them, 
bareheaded ; and in that order all remained waiting the 
event in deep silence. The passers by were struck with 
curiosity and stopped ; some of them bowed respectfully ; 
the gend'armes were uneasy. 

The commissaire arrived. Obliged to pass between the two 
files of men, who stood mute and impassive on either hand, 
he became agitated, turned pale, and going up to Mr. 
Baude, he politely stated to him the object of his mission. 
" It is by virtue of the ordonnances, Monsieur," said Mr. 
Baude, firmly, '' that you are come to demolish our presses. 
Well, then, it is in the name of the law that I call on you to 
forbear." The commissaire sent for a locksmith : he came, 
and the doors of the printing-house were about to be forced 
open. Mr. Baude stopped the man, and producing a copy of 
the Code, he read to him the article relating to the punish- 
ment of robbery accompanied with housebreaking. The 
locksmith uncovered his head to show his respect for the 
law; but being again ordered by the commissaire to proceed, 
he seemed about to obey, when Mr. Baude said to him with 



152 RISE AND FALL 

ironical coolness, " Oh go on! it is only a matter of the gal- 
leys." At the same time appealing from the commissaire 
to the Assize Courts, he drew out his pocket-book to enter 
the names of the witnesses present. The pocket-book 
passed from hand to hand, and every one inscribed his 
name. Every particular in this scene was striking and sin- 
gular, — Mr. Baude's stature, his sturdy countenance, his 
keen eyes overhung with thick bushy brows, the law for which 
he demanded respect, the stubborn determination of the spec- 
tators, the protection of the absent Judges invoked within a 
few paces of a detachment of gend'armerie, the crowd that 
every moment grew denser outside, and gave audible ex- 
pression to its indignation. The terrified locksmith threw 
up the job, and was loudly cheered. Another was sent for; 
he endeavored to execute the orders given him ; but sud- 
denly found that his tools were gone. It was necessary to 
have recourse to the smith employed to rivet the irons on the 
convicts. These proceedings, which took up several hours, 
and were witnessed by great numbers of persons, derived a 
real historical importance from the circumstances. By 
affording the people an example of disobedience combined 
with attachment to the laws, two cravings of its nature were 
gratified, — viz., the love of manifesting its independence, 
and the necessity of feeling itself governed.* 

In the afternoon a body of troops fired upon a group of 
people, who refused to disperse when summoned by a mag- 
istrate, and a man was killed. " To arms ! live the charter ! 
shouted the mob ; barricades were thrown up, arms and 
ammunition were distributed by unknown hands, and the 
hostilities commenced, upon the issue of which depended a 
sovereignty. The fifth regiment of infantry refused to fire 
upon the people, and several other regiments faltered, while 
the insurgents displayed indomitable courage. Day was just 
declining, when a man appeared on the Quai de I'Ecole, car- 

* Louis Blanc's History of Ten Years. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. .153 

rying in his hand that tricolor flag which had not been seen 
for fifteen years. No cry was uttered, no movement took 
place among the crowd drawn up along the river walls. 
Amazed, silent, and, as if immersed in their recollections, 
they continued gazing, long after it passed, on that stand- 
ard, the unexpected sight of which evoked such glorious 
phantoms. Some aged men uncovered their heads, others 
shed tears ; every face had turned pale. 

Lafayette had that morning read the ordonnances at La 
Grange, and, taking post-horses, was at Paris in the evening 
to offer to the insurgents the use of his name and person. 
He found that the liberal Deputies had been in session all 
day, but had done nothing, though the rattling of musket 
volleys had been heard throughout the afternoon, and some 
young men, who had come to cheer Mr. Perier, were 
charged upon by a squad of hussars, and wounded by the 
sabres under the windows of the council-room. Louis Blanc, 
from whom, as an eye-witness of the scene, we quote largely, 
gives a vivid description of the aspect of Paris that night. 
All along the Boulevards, on the Place Louis XV., the 
Place Vendome, and that of the Bastille, were Swiss or lan- 
cers, or gend'armes, or cuirassiers of the guards, or foot 
soldiers ; patrols crossing in every direction ; in the Rues 
de I'Echelle and des Pyramides attempts at barricades ; and 
all around the Palais Royal a swarm of men assembled from 
all quarters to batten on revolt ; musket shots as yet few and 
desultory ; at the foot of the columns of the Exchange a 
guardhouse blazing, and shedding an ominous flood of 
light over the square ; under the peristyle of the Theatre 
of Novelties lay a corpse, after having been carried 
about with cries of " Vengeance ! " darkness gathering 
thicker and thicker over the city from the destruction of 
the lamps ; men running up and down the Rue Richelieu 
bare-armed, with torches in their hands. 

On Wednesday, the 28th, all the disposable forces in the 
neighborhood of Paris were marched into the capital, and 



154 



RISE AND FALL 



the strongest positions were occupied by artillery ~ on the 
other hand, the whole population of Paris appeared to have 
risen as one man, every shop was shut, every artisan was in 
arms, carrying weapons of the most heterogeneous descrip- 
tion, obtained partly from the Musee d'Artillerie, partly 
from the various armorers' shops, and partly from the use 
of those numerous expedients to which a deep sense of de- 
termined patriotism enables men to resort in such moments. 
An indefatigable frequenter of the drama, who repaired to 
the barricades, was astonished to find his " dii penates " on 
the qui-vive in every direction. Charlemagne's Sword was 
gleaming on one spot — Tancred's Panoply was mounted 
in another — the Helmets of the Horatii rivalled with the 
Swords of Nero's Freedmen — and halberds and partisans, 
the usual caparison of the minions of despotism, waved high 
in the coarse hands of Sans-culottes. 

At four in the morning, a deputation of the Polytechnic 
School had been received by General Lafayette, and in a 
few hours these young heroes were directing the movements 
of the insurgents in every quarter of the city. The National 
Guard began to re-organize itself, and some imperial uni- 
forms were obtained from the wardrobe of a minor theatre. 
In vain did Mr. Arago attempt to persuade the Duke of 
Ragusa to cease firing on the people — indignant that his 
regular troops had been in two instances repulsed by jour- 
neymen printers, who fired the type they had been forbid- 
den to use legitimately, he was determined to occupy the 
city. Barricades were erected of felled trees and overturned 
carriages, while, as the troops moved on through the narrow, 
obstructed streets, an invisible enemy poured forth their 
fire, with deadly aim, from nearly every window. The very 
women, their passions roused, hurled down from the house- 
tops paving stones, logs of wood, and bricks, bruising and 
harassing the soldiers who escaped the shot. All hope of 
conciliation was destroyed, and it now remained for victory 
alone to decide between the King and the people. The 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 155 

latter were inspired by the cry of *' Live the Charter," and, 
although " ignorant of its meaning, they threw into it," 
says Louis Blanc, ** all the vague hopes that swelled their 
bosoms. Many of them died for a word they did not un- 
derstand — the men who did understand it were to show 
themselves by-and-bye, when the time was come to bury the 
dead." 

The protest of the liberal Deputies was issued in the 
afternoon, though many of them had left the city, among 
them Mr. Thiers, who had taken refuge with Madame de 
Courchamp, at Montmorency. Charles X. was at St. Cloud, 
and although he could hear the firing, he refused to credit 
the reports brought to him from time to time. " The Pa- 
risians," he said, "are in a state of anarchy — anarchy will 
necessarily bring them to my feet." This blind security 
was not shared by the monarch's niece, the Duchess of 
Berri, who was positive that the insurrection was the work 
of another uncle, the Duke of Orleans. So strong were 
her suspicions, that she organized a party to' proceed to 
Neuilly, seize the Duke, and oblige him by force to consent 
to enter Paris with her, to exhibit her infant son Henri 
to the people, as their legitimate sovereign. Charles X. 
accidentally learned the project, and stopped it, saying — 
" Why, the Duke of Orleans is the best subject I have, and 
did he think there was any danger, he would be here to 
advise me." He little thought that all that day messengers 
had passed between Neuilly, where Louis Philippe was, and 
Mr. Lafitte'Sj every half hour, and that Mr. Oudart, secretary 
to the Duchess, had been the bearer of the more confiden- 
tial communications. 

Before night the tricolor waved in triumph from the 
Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame, and the troops were con- 
centrated around the Tuileries. Tacitus says that a cloudy 
sky is a disastrous omen, and that the midnight enterprise 
languishes under the omen of a clouded moon ; but the 
citizen soldiers were happy in their auspices, for pure and 



156 RISE AND FALL 

bright as their aspirations for liberty was the heaven above 
their heads on the night between the 2Sth and 29th of July. 
Few Parisians closed their eyes, for tliough the tocsin had 
ceased to sound, and the firing had ceased, a solemn mur- 
mur of busy labor was every where heard. In every street 
paving stones were torn up and trees cut down to form 
barricades, the gunsmiths " plied their rattling trade," and 
the groans of the wounded on their way to the hospitals 
were mingled with the sharp challenge, or the watchful 
" sentinel, guard well your post," which one hundred thou- 
sand citizens on foot for liberty passed, from one to another, 
every quarter of an hour. 

A newspaper of the day, "La Trihime/' narrates an inter- 
esting scene which occurred at one of the barricades in 
the Rue Cadet, between the hours of one and two in the 
morning, when an old man, walking with difficulty, sought 
to pass. 

"Halt," cries the sentinel; "corporal, come and re- 
connoitre." (The corporal was a working man.) "You 
must come to the post, you fellows there ; and you shall tell 
us what keeps you abroad so late." The group walk toward 
the post, where each of the unknown undergoes an exami- 
nation. First, a man well stricken in years, of venerable 
countenance, and for whose passage it had been necessary 
to make breaches in two or three of the barricades — then, 
three other persons, who appeared to be under his orders, 
as aides-de-camp. All this appeared very suspicious to the 
Commandant, who sharply interrogated the old man. The 
latter replied to him : " Captain, you see me moved to the 
very soul at the spectacle which you make me witness ; 
embrace me, and know that I am one of your old comrades! " 
The Commandant hesitated. " It is General Lafayette 1 " 
said some one. Every one flew into his -arms; but the 
Commandant, resuming all his gravity : " Gentlemen," said 
he, "to arms!'^ and immediately all fell into line, and 
the General reviewed the post, as in the most regular army. 



OF LOUIS riiiLiprE. 157 



CHAPTER XXI. 

At sunrise on the 29th, the bourgeois took up arms, and 
joined the insurgents, whose ranks, thus far, had been filled 
with wild students, Phalansterians, St. Simonians, Commu- 
nists, and other anarchists, secretly instigated by agents from 
the Palais Royal. They had accomplished wonders, but 
there was danger of revolutionary excess, and when Lafitte 
called upon the middle classes to join the populace in order 
to check their mad audacity, and establish a firm constitu- 
tional government, few refused. A regular system of at- 
tack was now organized, and from every quarter of the 
capital marched columns, in whose ranks were to be seen 
mechanics and noblemen, veteran soldiers and boys, uni- 
forms and rags, led on to victory by the ardent Polytechnic 
students — Generals of twenty years, asBeranger called them. 
Prodigies of valor were enacted by many of these improvised 
battalions, and we even read of boys waving the tricolor 
flag amidst the volleys of grape-shot, and rushing among the 
enemy's squadrons to poniard the horse of the dragoon whom 
they could not reach. The King's troops, particularly the 
Swiss guards, " fought like brave men, long and well," but 
they could not resist the masses which attacked them on all 
sides. The Louvre was evacuated — the last company of 
the Swiss foot guards fell in the Place de Carrousel — and 
at one o'clock, Charles X. looking through a telescope from 
the Palace of St. Cloud, saw the fiery tricolor waving in 
triumph over the Palace of the Tuileries. The insurgents 
had conquered, and walked through regal halls, as the Spar- 
tan army did through the palace of Xerxes, without commit- 
ting the slightest acts of violence — for to have devastated 
or plundered would have brought death. The bourgeoisie 
14 



158 RISE AND FALL 

were determined to enforce law and order, and while they 
humored the mob by joining in the chorus of La Marseillaise, 
they succeeded in inspiring in their breasts a delicate sense 
of honor, which would not have discredited the days of 
chivalry. 

At this moment, Lafitte declared at a meeting of the 
Deputies, that as they had remained behind the people, 
they must now at least endeavor to overtake them by organ- 
izing without delay a Provisional Government, with General 
Lafayette at its head. Half an hour after the Tuileries sur- 
rendered, this Provisional Government was on its triumphal 
march to the Hotel de Ville, amid shouts of" Vive Lafayette P' 
passing through barricades stained with fresh blood, while 
from the house-tops, from whence, but a few hours before, 
massive paving stones had been cast with destructive force 
upon the doomed soldiery, now showered gentle flowers and 
tricolored cockades on the revolutionary veteran. The 
entire capital resounded with shouts of joy, which went up 
from the square in front of the Hotel de Ville as the pro- 
cession arrived, and Lafayette entered the walls, where, forty 
years before, another generation had placed him at the head 
of the Revolution of 1789. Some one wishing to show 
him the way : " I know it better than you all do," said he 
with a smile, and ascended the grand staircase. 

Monsieur Sarrans, his aid-de-camp, gives us a vivid picture 
of the scene which these head-quarters of insurrection pre- 
sented : " What mighty recollections were intermingled with 
others yet more grand ! Those immense halls, filled with 
crowds of citizens of every class, of every age — those 
combatants, intoxicated by victory, interesting by their 
wounds — those hangings, covered with fleur-de-lis, coolly 
torn to pieces — the bust of Louis XVIH. thrown upon the 
floor; that of Charles X. dashed to atoms — those citizen 
soldiers arriving from all sides to announce the defeat of 
the enemies of liberty, the carrying of the Louvre, the Tu- 
ileries, and the barracks of Babylon, bringing the colors> 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 159 

and dracTorinor aloncr the cannon which they had forcibly 
taken from the soldiers of Charles X. — orders dictated in 
haste, and dispatched in every direction, to pursue and 
harass the Royalists in their retreat — those guards with 
naked arms — military posts forming at every point — the 
Place deGreve covered with ammunition wagons and broken 
arms — the whole Polytechnic school in battle array — else- 
where pious hands already digging the grave of the heroes 
of liberty — in short, this compound of a popular tumult 
and a real battle against experienced troops and generals, 
resolving itself into a multitude of attacks of posts and par- 
tial successes — all this, rendered vivid and animated by 
the consciousness of a great triumph, presented a spectacle 
worthy the pen of a Tacitus or a Sallust." 

That afternoon the tricolored flag waved from every 
public building in Paris ; not a man was to be seen una- 
dorned with the tricolored cockade. Prompt measures were 
taken for the preservation of the public tranquillity, and 
the following proclamation was placarded upon the walls : 

'' My dear fellow-citizens and brave comrades, 

" The confidence of th& people of Paris calls me once more to 
the command of the public force. With joy and devotedness I 
have accepted the power that has been intrusted to me, and novi^, 
as in 1789, I feel myself strong in the approbation of my honor- 
able colleagues now assembled in Paris. I shall make no pro- 
fession of faith ; my opinions are known. The conduct of the 
Parisian population, during these last days of trial, renders me 
more than ever proud of being at its head. 

" Liberty shall triumph, or we will perish too^ether. 

" Vive la Liberie ! Vive la Patrie ! 

"La.fayette." 
"Paris, July 29, 1830." 

His forces slain or dispersed, the Duke of Ragusa fled to 
St. Cloud, where, the day before, he had pledged himself to 
keep possession of the capital for at least a fortnight longer. 
The news that the rebels were victorious so incensed the 



160 



RISE AND FALL 



Duke of Angouleme, that he demanded the Duke's sword, 
and broke it over the pommel of his saddle, ordering him 
into arrest. This act of violence was disapproved of by 
Charles X., who limited the arrest to four hours, and at 
dinner time sent to inform the Duke that a cover was placed 
for him at the royal table. The invitation was not accepted. 
Finding that further resistance to the popular will was 
useless, the King consented to repeal the ordonnances, and 
directed the Duke of Mortemart to repair to Paris, and 
treat for his abdication, as well as for that of the Duke of 
Angouleme, in favor of his grandson, who would ascend the 
throne as Henri V. Well informed politicians have ex- 
pressed it as their opinion, that had the Duke of Montemart 
seen the leading Deputies that night, the elder branch might 
have saved the throne. 

The confidence of Charles X. in Louis Philippe remained 
unshaken. As he coolly sat at the whist table, enjoying his 
usual rubber, Monsieur Duras (first gentleman of the bed- 
chamber) trumped his king of hearts with a knave of clubs, 
and the Duchess of Berri remarked, " So, my uncle, you 
will fall a victim." " Banish these suspicions against those 
good d'Orleans," replied the monarch; " there are not more 
loyal people in France, and just now, when I heard a lieu- 
tenant of the guards say that he could have seized the Duke, 
I told him that, had he laid a finger on him, I should have 
loudly disavowed the act." 

" Who shall rule France ? " was that night discussed by 
thousands — the aristocracy advocating the claims of Henri 
v., the bourgeoisie the Duke of Orleans, the war party 
young Napoleon, and the liberals a President. To General 
Lafayette a Republic, modelled after the United States, was 
the dream of a long life, but the people remembered the 
excesses of 1789. " Take the Duke of Orleans for your 
King," said Monsieur Lafitte — " Liberty will be satisfied 
with the sacrifice of legitimacy 1 Order will thank you for 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 161 

saving it from Robespierre ! England, in your revolution, 
will recoa^nise her own ! " 

*' Take Louis Philippe as our King ! " replied Monsieur 
de Glandeves. ** Why, are you not aware that he is accused 
of having approved of the homicidal votes of his father, 
and having been implicated in schemes for seizing the 
throne since he was eighteen, besides having fought against 
Napoleon ? Do not all impartial observers accuse him of 
constant intrigue since 1815, procuring the restitution of 
his stipend in defiance of the law, cringing at court, and 
out of court flattering the mischief makers 1 And, above 
all, has he not been so loaded with favors by the elder 
branch, that it would be the blackest ingratitude for him to 
seize their heritage?" "Ah, my good Sir," was Lafitte's 
reply, '' the Duke is such a good husband and so kind a 
father — besides, he would improve the commercial pros- 
perity of the country. The bourgeois will give him their 
support." 

At four o'clock on the morning of the 30th, Lafitte re- 
ceived a letter from one of the agents he had sent thither 
on the preceding day, which contained, in the following 
closing paragraph, the final instructions of the arch-conspi- 
rator. 

" It is proposed to wait on him in the name of the constituted 
authorities, suitably accompanied, and to offer him the crown. 
Should he plead family considerations or scruples of delicacy, it 
will be answered him, that his abode in Paris is important to the 
tranquillity of the capital and of France, and that it is necessary to 
place him in safety there. The infallibility of this measure may be 
relied on. Furthermore, it may be set down for certain, that the 
Duke of Orleans will not be slow to unite himself fully with the 
wishes of the nation." 

A copy of this was carried to the office of the " Na- 
tional,'' where Messrs. Thiers, Mignet, and Beranger were 
in session, and in an hour placards from their pens were 
14* 



162 RISE AND FALL 

profusely distributed in every direction. One will give an 
idea of all. 

" The Duke of Orleans has carried the tricolor flag under the 
enemy's fire ; the Duke of Orleans can alone carry it again. We 
will have no other flag. 

" The Duke of Orleans does not declare himself. He waits for 
the expression of our wishes. Let us proclaim those wishes, and 
he will accept the charter, as we have always understood and 
desired it. It is from the French people he will hold his 
crown." 

These placards provoked an explosion of anger among 
the Liberals, and Pierre Leroux hurried to the Hotel de 
Ville to remonstrate with Lafayette, declaring that the 
accession of another Bourbon would be the signal for a 
renewal of the conflict. The General is represented as 
having sat immovable in a large arm-chair, apparently lost 
in deep thought, and would have undoubtedly opposed Louis 
Philippe, had it not been for the appearance of Odilon 
Barrot, who prevailed upon him to uphold a constitutional 
monarchy. 

Louis Philippe had left Neuilly on the morning of the 
30th for Raincy, and was therefore away from home when 
Messrs. Dupin, Persil and Thiers arrived, bringing an infor- 
mal offer of the crown from the Chamber of Deputies. The 
Duchess of Orleans could not bear to see her family hon- 
ored by '' a crown snatched from the head of an old man, 
who had always proved himself a faithful kinsman and a 
generous friend ; " but the ambitious Madame Adelaide 
promised that if her brother could not be found to accept 
what should be tendered him, she would receive it in his 
name. " Only," said the diplomatic Princess to Thiers, 
" we must have a care that Europe does not think this rev- 
olution has been gotten up merely to change the crown of 
France, and attribute the fall of Charles X. to the intrigues 
of the Diike of Orleans." In a few hours a committee of 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 163 

the Chamber of Deputies presented themselves at Neuilly, 
bearing the following proclamation : 

" To THE Citizens of France : — The meeting of Deputies at 
this time in Paris, has deemed it urgently necessary to entreat 
his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans to repair to the capital, to 
exercise there the functions of Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, 
and to express to him their desire to preserve the tricolored cock* 
ade. It has, moreover, felt impressed with the necessity of apply- 
ing itself, without intermission, to the task of securing to France, 
in the approaching session of the Chambers, all the indispensable 
guarantees for the full and entire execution of the charter." 

Returning to Neuilly in the evening, Louis Philippe read 
this important document at the gate of his park, by the 
pale and flickering light of a torch, and immediately set out 
for the Palais Royal. He arrived about midnight, accom- 
panied by only three persons, wearing the tri-colored cock- 
ade, and answering to the sentries' challenge, as they clam- 
bered over the barricades, " Vive la Charte." Strano-e to 
say, no sooner had he written notes to Lafitte and Lafayette, 
than he despatched a messenger for the Duke of Montemart, 
who had been repulsed from the Chamber of Deputies as 
testamentary executor of Charles X. Louis Blanc thus 
describes the interview : 

The Duke of Montemart followed the messenger, and 
was introduced through the roof of the palace into a small 
closet opening to the right on the court, and not belonging 
to the apartments occupied by the family. Louis Philippe 
was lying on a mattress on the floor, in his shirt, and only 
half covered with a shabby quilt. His face was bathed in 
perspiration, there was a lurid fire in his eye, and all about 
him bespoke extreme fatigue and extraordinary excitement 
of mind. He began to speak the moment the Duke of 
Montemart entered, and expressed himself with great volu- 
bility and earnestness, protesting his attachment to the 
elder branch, and vowing he had only come to Paris to save 



164 RISE AND FALL 

the city from anarchy. At this moment a great noise was 
heard in the court, where people were shouting Vive le Due 
d' Orleans ! " You hear' that, Monseigneur," said De Mon- 
temart, " those shouts are for you." " No ! No ! " re- 
plied the Duke of Orleans, with increased vehemence; "I 
will suffer death sooner than accept the crown." He seized 
a pen and wrote a letter to Charles X., which he sealed 
and delivered to De Montemart, who carried it away in the 
folds of his cravat. 

By a curious coincidence — Louis Blanc goes on to say — 
almost at the very hour that these things were passing in Paris, 
in the Palais Royal, the Duchess of Berri started out of bed 
at St. Cloud, agitated by a thousand terrors, and ran half- 
dressed to awaken the Dauphin, and to reproach him for an 
obstinacy that endangered the lives of two poor children. 
Distressed and overcome by the cries and tears of a mother, 
the Dauphin acquainted Charles X. that St. Cloud was 
threatened, and that the seat of the monarchy must be 
moved a little farther ; and some minutes afterwards, before 
daybreak, Charles X., the Duchess of Berri, and the chil- 
dren, were on their way to Trianon, under the protection of 
an escort o? gardes du corps. The aspect of the camp boded 
ill : and bitter thouorhts were written in the faces of all 
those armed servants of fugitive royalty. The remains of 
the royal kitchen, distributed among the soldiers, sent some 
flashes of gaiety through this dense and dismal gloom ; but 
whilst some were dividing this unexpected booty among 
them, with laughter, others were abandoning their colors, 
and scattering their arms over the road as they fled. Little 
dependence can be placed on hired bayonets. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 165 



CHAPTER XXII. 

E\RLY on the morning of the 31st, the deputation of the 
Chamber of Deputies waited on Louis Philippe for his deci- 
sion, and found him nearly overpowered by fear and hope, 
for Charles X. was still at the head of a powerful army, and 
the Duchess was openly opposed to her husband's dethroning 
his generous kinsman. At last he sent Marshal Sebastian! 
to Talleyrand for his decision, and that old diplomatist 
settled the matter by saying, with the flippancy of a political 
coxcomb, "It is well — let him accept." In an hour the 
following proclamation was placarded: 

*' Inhabitants of Paris, — 

" The Deputies of France, at this moment assembled in Paris, 
have expressed their desire that I should betake myself to this 
capital, to exercise there the functions of Lieutenant-General of 
the kingdom. 

" I have not hesitated to come and partake your dangers, to 
place myself in the midst of this heroic population, and use all 
my endeavors to preserve you from civil war and anarchy. On 
entering the city of Paris I wore with pride those glorious colors 
you have resumed, and which I had myself long carried. 

" The Chambers are about to assemble : they will consult on 
the means of securing the reign of the laws, and the maintenance 
of the rights of the nation. 

" A charter shall henceforth be a true thing. 

" Louis Philippe d'Orleans.'' 

Surrounded by a numerous staff, and escorted by the 
Deputies, Louis Philippe now set out for the Hotel de Ville, 
passing over half-demolished barricades, and by new-closed 
graves. Yet there was no cheering, no enthusiasm, and 



1C6 



RISE AND FALL 



where one cried " Vive le Due d' Orleans ! ^"^ a thousand 
cried '^ Vive le RepuMique f Vive Lafayette!" for the 
people felt that they had not been consulted, and the 
Bourbon blood of the Prince excited a violent irritation. 
The procession entered the Hotel de Ville, Lafayette receiv- 
ing his royal visitor with the politeness of a gentleman, 
delighted to do the honors of a wholly popular sovereignty 
to a Prince, and then all eyes on the square were turned to 
the grand balcony. A sullen grief was depicted in the 
faces of the recent combatants, and others in the crowd 
were ghastly pale with fear. At last the windows were 
swung open, and Lafayette, (the picture of the arbiter of the 
troubled hour described by Virgil,) his aged head crowned 
with the character of seventy years, appeared on that same 
balcony where he had been so conspicuous nearly fifty 
years before, waving in one hand the flag of the old Repub- 
lic, and presenting with the other the candidate for the new 
monarchy. Then, and not till then, says an eye-witness, 
burst out the loud, hearty, and long resounding shouts of 
the populace ; then, and not till then, the people who had 
been fighting for their liberties, the party that had been 
plotting for Louis Philippe, and the deceived huurgeois 
united in upholding a Prince who was ** to put an end 
to all revolutions, and to establish on a permanent basis the 
institutions of France." 

But it required all the powerful authority of Lafayette to 
quiet the leaders of the insurrection, who were not so easily 
duped by fine speeches. " Look through the window at the 
people," said General Dubourg to Louis Philippe, " and 
remember that you keep your oaths. The nation has 
achieved its liberty at the price of blood ; and it well 
knows how to re-achieve it, if the odious example of the 
fallen monarch shall be followed, and if bad men shall 
attempt to rob them of it." Louis Philippe was indignant 
at having his honor thus called into question, and declared 
the future would prove that he knew how to keep his en- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 167 

gagements. The future not only proved that his proud 
boast, "I am a Frenchman and a man of honor," was of 
little value, but that the nation knew how to avenge its 
wroncrs. 

After his departure, the Liberals began to perceive that 
they were throwing away the advantages which they had 
gained at a sacrifice of so much blood, and Messieurs 
Lafayette, Joubert, and Marchais, drew up the following 
^^ programme " which the former carried to the Palais Royal 
for Louis Philippe's signature. 

"The Revolution of July, so noble, so pure, so generous, has 
traced for us all the course we have to follow for the happiness 
and the glory of the country. To reject what the Revolution has 
rejected, to maintain what it seeks to establish, and to perform 
what it demands, such should be our triple rule of conduct. 

" To consolidate, by founding it on the broad basis of the general 
interest, the popular throne, which the Revolution is about to re- 
establish ; to destroy monopoly, whenever, and in what form 
soever it may appear — in trade, in public instruction, in public 
worship, or in distributiou of political power. 

" To insure to every district a bona fide \og-a\ representation ; to 
the people the means of subsistence and instruction ; to all, the 
peaceful and legitimate enjoyment of their faculties and of their 
rights. 

" To unravel the chaos of our legislation ; to simplify and com- 
bine or expunge the innumerable provisions which have been care- 
fully handed down to us by the republic, the empire, and the 
restoration. 

" To extirpate, by great retrenchments, the hideous disease 
which the thirst of places and sinecures has engendered. 

" To pursue, in the public expenditure, all reductions compatible 
with the good of the public service, and, above all, in the mode 
of assessing and proportioning the taxes at the utmost possible 
alleviation of the burdens of the working classes. 

" Finally, to give to our glorious regeneration all its legitimate 
consequences, by realizing all the ameliorations of which our situ- 
ation is susceptible." 



108 RISE AND FALL 

Louis Philippe received Lafayette with great cordiality, 
and asked him at once how he thought the charter should 
be modified ? '' You know," said Lafayette, '' that I am a 
Republican, and that I consider the Constitution of the 
United States as the most perfect that has ever existed." 
" I think as you do," answered Louis Philippe, " it is im- 
possible to have passed two years in America without being 
of that opinion — but do you think in the situation of France, 
and according to general opinion, that it is proper for us to 
adopt it ? " '* No," replied Lafayette, " what is at present 
necessary for the French people is, a popular throne sur- 
rounded with Republican institutions." '' That is exactly 
the way that I understand it," said Louis Philippe, " and here 
is a paper drawn up by Monsieur Guizot, which meets with 
my entire approbation, as a proclamation defining the prin- 
ciples which are to govern the Chamber of Deputies. All 
this so pleased Lafayette, that he never thought of asking 
the Duke's signature to the paper he had brought, and went 
away to proclaim Louis Philippe's orthodox republican 
views, only restrained by expediency. Louis Blanc tells us, 
that at a subsequent period he said to Armand Carrel, on 
the latter's bitterly reproaching him for his conduct in this 
famous interview — " Well, well, it can't be helped, but at 
that time I thought him a plain, honest fellow." The de- 
claration of the Deputies was as follows : 

" Frenchmen, France is free. Absolute power unfurled its 
flag. The heroic population of Paris has laid it low. Paris as- 
sailed has rendered triumphant by force of arms the sacred cause 
that had before triumphed in the elections. A power usurping our 
rights, perturbing our repose, threatened at once both liberty and 
order. We resume possession of order and liberty. No more 
fear for our acquired rights ; no barrier now between us and the 
rights we yet lack. 

" A government that shall without delay guarantee us those 
blessings is at this moment the first want of our country. French- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 169 

men, those of your deputies who are already in Paris have assem- 
bled, and, for the present, till the Chambers can regularly inter- 
pose their voices, they have invited a Frenchman, who has never 
fought but for France, M. le Duke of Orleans, to exercise the func- 
tions of Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. This is in their eyes 
the means of promptly accomplishing by peace the success of the 
most legitimate defence. 

"The Duke of Orleans is devoted to the national and constitu- 
tional cause. He has always defended its interests and professed 
its principles. He will respect our rights, for he will hold his own 
from us. We will secure to ourselves by laws all the guarantees 
necessary to render liberty strong and lasting ; 

" The re-establishment of the national guard, with the interven- 
tion of the national guards in the choice of their officers ; 

" The intervention of the citizens in the formation of the munici- 
pal and department administrations ; 

" Trial by jury for offences of the press ; 

"The legally organized responsibility of the ministers and 
secondary agents of the administration ; 

" The re-election of deputies promoted to public offices. 

" We will, in concert with the head of the state, give our insti- 
tutions the development vi^hich they need. 

" Frenchmen, the Duke of Orleans himself has already spoken, 
and his language is that which becomes a free coiintry . The Cham- 
bers, he tells you, are about to assemble. They will consult on the 
means of securing the reign of the laws and the maintenance of 
the rights of the nation. 

" The charter shall be henceforth a true thing." 

On the first of August, Louis Philippe proinalgated his 
first ordonnance, declaring the resumption of the tri-color as 
a national flag. That morning he received a commission as 
Lieutenant-General from Charles X., who was at Rambouil- 
let, and Monsieur Dupin drew up a rude reply, refusing it. 
Louis Philippe, (if we may credit Louis Blanc,) read it, 
put it with his own hands under an envelope, and lighted 
the sealing-wax to seal it, when all at once, appearing to 
bethink him, he said, " This is too serious a matter to be 

15 



170 



RISE AND FALL 



despatched without consulting my wife." He went into an 
adjoining room, and returned some minutes afterwards with 
the same envelope in his hand, which was delivered to the 
messenger. The letter that was actually inclosed breathed 
affection and fidelity, and it soothed and touched the old 
monarch ; so much so, that from that moment all his doubts 
and uncertainties vanished. Charles X. was delio-hted to 
find in Louis Philippe the protector of his grandson, and 
feeling assured that his honor was the best guarantee of the 
Due de Bordeaux's royal expectations, he put in execution, 
without delay, a project that, before this, had but vaguely 
presented itself to his mind. Not content with abdicating 
the crown, he used the absolute control he possessed over 
the Dauphin to make him also abdicate ; and he believed 
that he should thus secure the salvation of his dynasty. 

He accordingly drew up the following act of abdication 
which was sent with a letter from the Duchess of Berri to 
the Duchess of Orleans, and the receipt of which caused the 
latter to burst into tears. She did not attempt to conceal 
her grief before the messenger at the recent catastrophe, 
but mide no expl-anations as to her husband's policy, merely 
saying that he was an honest man, aad the family might 
rely upon him. 

" Rambouillet, Aug. 2. 

" My Cousin, — I am too profoundly grieved by the evils which 
afflict or might threaten my people, not to have sought a means of 
preventing them. I have, therefore, taken the resolution to 
abdicate the crown in favor of my grandson, the Duke de Bor- 
deaux. 

" The Dauphin, who partakes of my sentiments, also renounces 
his rights in favor of his nephew. 

" You will have then, in your quality of Lieutenant-General of 
the Kingdom, to cause the accession of flenry V. to the Crown to 
be proclaimed. You will take, besides, all the measures which 
concern you to regulate the form of the Government during the 
minority of the new King. Here I confine myself to making 
known these dispositions; it is a means to avoid many evils. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



171 



" You will communicate my intentions to the diplomatic body ; 
and you will acquaint me as soon as possible with the proclama- 
tion by which my grandson shall have been recognised King of 
France, under the name of Henry V. 

"I charge Lieutenant-General Viscount de Foissac-Lalour to 
deliver this letter to you. He has orders to settle with you the 
arrangements to be made in favor of the persons who have accom- 
panied me, as well as the arrangements necessary for what con- 
cerns me and the rest of my family. 

" We will afterwards regulate the other measures which will be 
the consequence of the change of the reign, 

" I repeat to you, my cousin, the assurances of the sentiments 

with which I am your affectionate cousin, 

" Charles." 

It was singular, says Louis Blanc, that Charles should 
have drawn up in the form of a letter the important docu- 
ment that changed the order of succession to the throne. 
Such an informality was particularly remarkable in a mo- 
narch so scrupulously observant of the laws of etiquette. 
But the assurances of attachment contained in the letter 
written by the Duke of Orleans had sealed the mind of 
Charles X. against suspicion. In this document the Duke 
of Orleans was considered as the natural protector of the 
minority of Henry V., and he was left supreme arbiter of 
all the measures which the fatality of the circumstances 
might render imperative. 

But Louis Philippe was bent on securing the crown for 
himself, and fearing the presence of Charles X. so near the 
capital, at the head of his army, he sent Marshal Maison, 
Monsieur de Schonen, and Odilon Barrot, to escort him to 
the coast, under the pretence of protecting him from popu- 
lar resentment. " What shall we do if they commit the 
Duke of Bordeaux to our charge? " asked Monsieur de 
Schonen when receiving his instructions at the Palais Royal. 
" The Duke of Bordeaux," exclaimed Louis Philippe, 
" why, he is your King ! " The Duchess of Orleans, who 
was present, burst into tears, and threw herself into her 



172 RISE AND FALL 

husband's arms, saying : " Ah ! you are the most honest 
man in the world." She little thought that he had given 
positive orders for the embarkation and exile of every 
member of the fallen dynasty. 

On the 3d of August the Chambers assembled, or rather 
the liberal portion of them, for there were few besides. The 
intrepid De Beranger was there, with De Conny, Pampleun, 
De Boisbertrand, D'Autpoul, Royer, and De Belissen, all 
faithful to fallen fortunes — but the remainder of the two 
hundred royalist Deputies had not the courage to appear. 
The attendance of the Peers, with Chateaubriand at their 
head, was more numerous. Louis Philippe's opening dis- 
course is an interesting state paper. 

" Gentlemen of the Chamber of Peers and Deputies : 

" Paris, disturbed by a deplorable violation of the Charter and of 
the laws, has defended them with a heroic courage. In the midst 
of this fearful struggle none of the safeguards of social order 
existed. Persons, property, rights, and all that is dear to men, and 
citizens, were in imminent danger. In this absence of all public 
power, the wishes of my fellow-citizens turned towards me ; they 
have judged ms worthy of co-operating with them for the safety 
of the country, they have invited me to exercise the functions of 
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. Their cause appeared just, 
the dangers great, the necessity imperious, and ray duty sacred. 
I have hastened to join this brave people, accompanied by my 
family, and bearing those colors which, for the second time among 
us, are connected with the triumph of liberty. I have come firmly 
resolved to devote myself to whatever the circumstances may require 
of me, in the situation in which they have placed me, to establish 
the power of the laws, to save our liberty which has been menaced, 
and to render impossible the return of such great evils, by con- 
firming the power of that charter, whose name, invoked during the 
combat, shall be heard after the victory. In the accomplishment 
of this noble end, I shall look to the Chambers for a guide. All 
rights should be fully guaranteed, all necessary institutions for 
their full and free exercise should receive the developments which 
they require. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 173 

" Attached, from principle and conviction, to the principles of a 
government, I vi^ill take the risk of the consequences. I deem it 
my duty, from this day, to call your attention to the organization 
of the national guard, the trial by jury for ojffences of the press, 
the formation of administrations in the departments, and above all, 
that fourteenth Article of the Charter which has been so odiously 
interpreted. 

"■ In the midst of the joyful transports of the capital and of all 
France, in the sight of order springing up with such marvel- 
lous quickness, after a resistance unstained by any excess, a just 
national pride swells my heart, and I confidently look forward to 
the future. Yes, gentlemen, France will be happy and free ; this 
France, so dear to us, will show Europe that, entirely occupied by 
her internal prosperity, she cherishes peace as well as liberty, and 
only desires the happiness and tranquillity of her neighbors. 

" Respect for the rights of all, care for the interests of all, and 
faith in the government, are the best means of disarming parties, 
of restoring to the minds of all, that confidence in the public in- 
stitutions, and that stability which is the only sure pledge of the 
happiness of the people and of the force of the state." 

The weather just then was beautiful, and Louis Philippe, 
with the Duchess leaninof on his arm and two or three of 
their children following them, used to mingle with the peo- 
ple in the public gardens. They also visited the hospitals, 
gave $20,000 to the poor, and made most gracious answers 
to the numerous deputations who presented themselves. 
Among other acts calculated to win popularity, was a pen- 
sion of $300 granted by Louis Philippe to Rouget de L'Lisle, 
auttior of the Marseillaise,* with a letter, saying that it re- 
called '' cherished souvenirs" to his heart. Popular enthu- 
siasm was at its highest pitch, and an English observer says 
that the streets were crowded with that idle populace so 
peculiarl)' Parisian — while every where one saw the tri- 



* A free translation of this national war-song of France has been given on 
page 34. The words and music were composed in a single night — an in- 

15* 



174 



RISE AND FALL 



color, and heard the Marseillaise and Ca Ira. The whole 
population seemed one happy family : 

" Men met each other with erected look, 
The steps were higher which they took — 
Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, 
And long inveterate foes saluted as ihey passed." 

Some of the rabble who went from Paris, having driven 
Charles X. from Paris, returned in the magnificent coro- 
nation equipages, and making a pompous entry into the 
city, alighted at the Palais Royal, shouting, '* Hallo ! here 
are your coaches ! " Working men with begrimmed faces 
and naked arms stood sentinels at every door of the palace, 
some of them armed with guns, others with pikes. The 
Duchess of Orleans was greatly terrified at this spectacle, 
which reminded her of the scenes of the first revolution. 
But Louis Philippe had mustered up his courage, and the 
smile never ceased to play on his lips. Charles X. was a 
fugitive with his family, leaving the throne vacant. Yet a 
few vain formalities discharged ; and the Lieutenant-General 
became King. 



cident beautifully described by Dr. O. W. Holmes, of Boston, in the fol- 
lowing lines : 

" The city slept beneath the moonbeam's glance, 

Her while walls gleaming through the vines of France, 

And all was hushed, save where the footsteps fell, 

On some high tower, of midnight sentinel. 

But one still watched, no self-encircled woes 

Chased from his lids the angel of repose ; 

He watched, he wept, for thoughts of bitter years 

Bowed his dark lashes, wet with burning tears ; 

His country's sufferings, and his children's shame, 

Streamed o'er his memory like a forest's flame, 

Each treasured insult, each remembered wrong, 

Rolled through his heart, and kindled into song ; 

His taper faded, and the morning gales 

Swept through the world the war-song of Marseilles ! " 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 175 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The new charter was drawn up by Monsieur Berard, but 
curiously changed by Guizot and De Broglie, ere it was 
presented to the Chamber of Deputies on the morning of 
the 7th of August, with the following preamble : 

"The Chamber of Deputies, taking into consideration the impe- 
rious necessity resulting from the events of the 26th, 27th, 28th, 
and 29th of July, and from the general situation in which France 
has been placed in consequence of the violation of the constitu- 
tional charter ; considering, moreover, that in consequence of that 
violation and of the heroic resistance of the inhabitants of Paris, 
the King, Charles X., his Royal Highness Louis Antoine, Dauphin, 
and all the members of the elder branch of the royal family are at 
this m.oment quitting the French territory, — declares that the 
throne is vacant, de facto and de jure, and that it is indispensably 
needful to provide for the same." 

This preamble was most diplomatically framed, setting 
forth as it did the elevation of the Duke of Orleans as the 
compulsory result of events in which it was very possible 
he had himself taken no part. Charles X. was not expelled 
from the kingdom ; he quitted it, and the Duke of Orleans 
only ascended the throne because the throne happened to 
be vacant. Thus, whatever foreign cabinets might have 
regarded as revolutionary in the Dake's accession, was, of 
course, cleared up to their satisfaction ; that Prince was no 
longer an usurper, he was the unavoidable continuator of 
the system of order and peace guaranteed by the monarchical 
form. It had been the wish of the Duke of Orleans to 
make Europe believe that he respected in Charles X. a 
member of the family of inviolable kings, when he sent 



176 RISE AND FALL 

commissioners to Rambouillet to protect him against the 
passions which the Duke himself had excited. Nothing 
could be better adapted to fulfil the Prince's intentions than 
the declaration we have just read. It was adopted almost 
without opposition.* 

Having washed the usurpation from the eyes of Europe, it 
was necessary to make the people believe that an indissoluble 
compact was to be entered into between them and the 
throne, by which their rights were to be protected. Some 
articles of the old charter were therefore cancelled, others 
hurriedly altered, and as it began to grow late before this 
superficial revision was finished, it was decided to make 
provision by special laws, to be enacted in the shortest pos- 
sible time, for the following subjects : — Trial by jury for 
political oflfences — the responsibility of ministers — the re- 
election of deputies who had taken office — the annual 
voting of the army estimates — the national guard — the 
position of military and naval officers — departmental and 
municipal institutions — public instruction and liberty of 
teaching —the determination of the conditions of electoral 
qualification and eligibility. 

One more article was necessary to complete this hurried 
contract which was to bind France to the " Throne of the 
Barricades." Lafitte read it^ 

" Together with the adoption of these provisions and proposi- 
tions, the Chamber of Deputies finally declares, that the general 
and urgent interest of the French people calls to the throne His 
Royal Highness, Louis Philippe, of Orleans, Dake of Orleans, 
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and his heirs for all the fu- 
ture, in the male line, according to the law of primogeniture, with 
exclusion of the female line and its heirs. 

" In accordance with the foregoing, His Royal Highness, Louis 
Philippe of Orleans, Duke of Orleans, Lieutenant-General of the 
Kingdom, will be invited to accept and swear to the foregoing 

* Louis Blanc's History of Ten Years. 




ODILLON BARROT. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 177 

clauses and obligations to the observing of the constitutional charter, 
and the specified modifications, and, after having done this in 
presence of the assembled Chambers, to take the title of King of 
the French." 

Monsieur de Corcelles asked if this election of a sove- 
reign should not be submitted to the people for their ratifica- 
tion, but no one sustained him. The following was the result 
of the ballot which decided that the crown of France should 
be given away, as the same Deputies would have voted them- 
selves refreshments for the season. 

Number of voters .... 252 

White balls 229 

Black balls 33 

Towards sunset the Deputies left their hall, and walked 
in procession to the Palais Royal, where Louis Philippe 
received them in the hall in which his father had received 
Franklin, surrounded by his family. Lafitte read the new 
Charter, the last clause of which was an invitation to ascend 
the throne, and Louis Philippe replied : 

" Messieurs, — I receive with deep emotion the declaration you 
present to me. I regard it as the expression of the national will, 
and it appears to me conformable to the political principles I have 
all my life professed. 

" Full of remembrances that have always made me wish that 
I might never be called to a throne, exempt from ambition, and 
habituated to the peaceful life I led in my family, T cannot conceal 
from you all the feelings that agitate my heart in this great con- 
juncture ; but there is one that overbears all the rest, that is, the 
love of my country. I feel what it prescribes to me, and I will do 
it." 

As he concluded, he threw himself into the arms of La- 
fitte, and received the warm congratulations of his friends. 
Lafayette then led him out on the balcony, and when the 
applause of the assembled multitudes had subsided, said : 



178 RISE AND FALL 

" We have done a good work. This is what we have been 
able to make most like a Republic." It is not correct that 
he exclaimed, '* Behold the best of Republics."* 

The next day, the Chamber of Peers assembled to ratify 
the compact which had been entered into by the Deputies, 
but it was rather an act of civility, for the lower Chamber 
had acted with sovereign independence. The session was, 
however, marked by a speech from Chateaubriand, t which 
will ever remain as a specimen of courageous and sublime 
eloquence. After having denounced, in eloquent and appro- 
priate language, the ordinances of July, and their authors; 
and after having rendered his noble tribute of admiration to 
the temperance and moderation of the people of Paris, he 
addressed himself to the question of the rights of the Duke 
of Bordeaux : 

" To say that this child, when separated from his masters, would 
not have had time to forget their very names, before arriving at 
manhood ; to say that he would remain infatuated with certain 
hereditary dignities, after a long course of popular education, and 
after the terrible lesson which in two nights has hurled two kings 
from the throne, is at least not very reasonable ! It is not from 
a feeling of sentimental devotedness, transmitted from the swad- 
dling-clothes of St. Louis, to the cradle of the young Henry, that 
I plead a cause where every thing would again turn against me, if 
it triumphed. I am no believer in chivalry or romance ; I have no 
faith in the divine right of royalty ; but I believe in the power of 
facts and of revolutions. I do not even invoke the charter ; I take 
my ideas from a higher source ; I draw them from the sphere of 
philosophy, from the period at which my life terminates. I pro- 
pose the Duke of Bordeaux as a necessity of a purer kind than 
that which is now in question. I know that by passing over this 
child, it is intended to establish the principle of the sovereignty of 
the people ; an absurdity of the old school, which proves, that our 
veteran democrats have advanced no farther in political knowledge, 
than our superannuated royalists. There is no absolute sovereignty 

* Letter from General Lafayette to General Bernard. 
t Chateaubriand. Note P. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 179 

anywhere ; liberty does not flow from political right, as was sup- 
posed in the eighteenth century ; it is derived from natural right, 
so that it exists under all forms of government ; and a monarchy 
may be free, nay, much freer than a republic. And above all, 
such a monarchy as you would establish, will be swept away 
by democratic laws, or the constitutional monarch will be swept 
away by the movement of factious persons. 

" An unavailing Cassandra,'' he concluded, reverting painfully 
to his own position, " I have sufficiently wearied the throne and 
the peerage with my disregarded warnings. It only remains for 
me to sit down on the fragments of a wreck I have so often pre- 
dicted. I recognise in misfortune all kinds of power, except that 
of releasing me from my oaths of fidelity. I must therefore render 
my life uniform. After all I have done, said, and written for the 
Bourbons, I should be the vilest of wretches if I denied them at the 
moment when for the third and last time they are going into exile. 
Fear I leave to those mock royalists who have never sacrificed a 
coin or a place to their loyalty ; to those champions of the altar 
and the throne, who lately treated me as a renegade, an apostate, 
and a revolutionist. Pious libellers, the renegade now calls upon 
you ! Come, then, and stammer out a word, a single word, with 
him, for the unfortunate master you have lost, and who loaded you 
with benefits. Instigators of Coups cfEtat, and preachers of coa- 
stituent power, where are you? You hide yourselves in the mire, 
from under which you raised your heads to calumniate the faithful 
servants of the King. Your silence to-day is worthy of your lan- 
guage of yesterday ! Ye gallant paladins, whose projected ex- 
ploits have caused the descendants of Henry IV. to be driven from 
their throne at the point of the pitchfork, tremble now, as ye 
crouch under the tri-colored cockade I The noble colors you 
display will protect your person, but will not cover your cowardice ! 
Whatever be the destinies in store for the Lieutenant-General, I 
will never be his enemy if he efl!ect the welfare of my country. 
All I ask is, that I may preserve the freedom of ray conscience, 
and the right to go and die wherever I shall find independence and 
repose." 

This touching appeal produced no effect on the Peers, 
who immediately commenced balloting. Only one hundred 
and fourteen were present, of whom eighty-nine voted in 



180 RISE AND FALL 

favor of the new Charter, ten against it, and fifteen refused 
to vote at all. That same evening the majority presented 
themselves at the Palais Royal, M'here their Chancellor, 
Monsieur Pasquier, thus addressed Louis Philippe. 

" The Chamber of Peers presents to your Royal Highness the 
act which realizes our hopes. Hitherto you have defended our 
young and untried liberties with your sword ; to-day you conse- 
crate them by institutions and laws. Your wisdom, your inclina- 
tion, the recollection of your whole life, promise a citizen King. 
You will respect our safeguards, for they are likewise yours. 
This noble family which we see around you, educated in the love 
of country, of justice, and of truth, will assure to your children 
the peaceable enjoyment of that Charter to which you are about 
to take the oath, and the blessings of a government firm and free 
to the end." 

Thus far the relations between the creator and the created 
had been religiously observed, and nothing now remained 
but to give the transfer of the crown a formal sanction, or 
as a French radical calls it, " that sort of legitimacy which 
public imbecility connects with the prestige of an imposing 
ceremonial ! " The throne was placed on its usual platform 
in the Chamber of Deputies, but the Jleur-de-lis had been 
removed from it, and in the canopy which hung over it, the 
white flag of St. Louis, " sans tache,^' had been replaced by 
the tricolored banner of the first revolution. At the front 
of the platform was a range of stools, and between that 
destined for Louis Philippe and the throne, was a table on 
which stood the pen and ink to be employed in signing 
the Charter. This table typified the barrier still existing 
between Louis Philippe and Royalty. He was to sit upon 
a simple stool, until, by signing a compact with the Repre- 
sentatives of the Nation, he received permission to seat 
himself upon the throne of Charlemagne. 

On the 9th of August, 1830, having been escorted thither 
by a brilliant procession, Louis Philippe entered the Chamber 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 181 

to the sound of the Marseillaise, accompanied by the 
Duchess of Orleans, his two eldest sons, and his devoted 
•sister. Casimer Perier having read the Charter in a stern 
and manly voice, Louis Philippe addressed the assembled 
Peers and Deputies : 

*' T have read with great attention the declaration of the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, and the act of adhesion of the Chamber of Peers. 
I have v^^eighed and meditated every expression therein. I accept, 
without restriction or reservation, the clauses and engagements 
contained in that declaration, and the title of King of the French 
which it confers on me, and I am ready to make oath to observe 
the same." 

He then rose, uncovered himself, drew off his right 
glove, raised his right hand, and repeated after Dupont de 
I'Eure the oath. 

" In presence of God I swear faithfully to observe the constitu- 
tional charter, with the modifications set forth in the declara- 
tion ; to govern only by the laws, and according to the laws ; to 
cause good and exact justice to be administered to every one ac- 
cording to his right, and to act in every thing with the sole view to 
the interest, the welfare, and the glory of the French people." 

The hall resounded with cries of " Vive le Roi," as Louis 
Philippe turned towards the table, and signed three copies of 
the charter and of his oath, to be deposited in the archives 
of the kingdom, and in those of the two Chambers. Four 
Marshals of France presented him with the sceptre, the 
crown, the sword of state, and the hand of justice, while 
the table and the stool were removed. Louis Philippe, first 
King of the French, seated himself upon the throne, and 
thus delivered his inaugural speech : 

"Gentlemen of the Chambers: — I have just performed a great 
act. I am fully aware of the extent of the duty it imposes upon 
me. I have confidence in myself, and trust I shall fulfil it. 
With a firm conviction of this, T have become a party to the com- 
pact, which has been proposed to me. 
IG 



182 RISE AND FALL 

" It has ever been an ardent desire with me never to nccnpy the 
throne, to which the national wish has called me ; but France, her 
liberties in danger, saw her pviblic order in peril. The violation of 
the charter had shaken our civil system in its foundation It was 
necessary to re-establish the supremacy of the laws. It was the 
duty of the Chambers to make the provisisons. 

"Gentlemen, you have well performed your duty. The wise 
modifications which have been effected in the Charter, guarantee 
security for the future, and France, I hope, will be happy at home, 
ajid respected abroad, and give greater assurances than ever for 
the peace of Europe." 

Fresh acclamations welcomed these hopes for the future, 
and the monarch left the hall amidst peals of cannon and 
the loud chaunts of the " Marseillaise." His first care was 
to organize a Ministry. Dupont de I'Eure received the 
portfolio of the Department of Justice, Gerard * that of 
War, Guizot that of the Interior, Louis t that of Finance, 
(which they had previously held temporarily,) de Broglie | 
that of Public Instruction, Mole § that of Foreign Affairs, 
and Sebastiani H that of the Marine. In addition to these 
Ministers, there were four other members of the Cabinet, 
who, without any other duties to perform, had a voice in its 
deliberations, and partook in its general responsibility — 
Lafitte, Casiraer Perier, the elder Dupin, and Benjamin 
Constant. 

Charles X. was meanwhile journeying towards the coast, 
attended by a few faithful adherents, and the remnants of 
his body guard, who were so worn out with fatigue that one 
fell on the road near Nonancourt and instantly expired. 
The deposed monarch entered every church on the way- 



* Gerard. Note G. 
t Lcuis. Note H, 
t De Broglie. Note I. 
§ Mo e. Note K. 
II Se'.iastiaui. Note L. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



183 



side to " tell his beads and patter prayer," but no shout of 
•* Vive le Roi " burst from the assembled peasants as he 
came out ; and he looked at them with a vacant stare. His lips 
were dry and livid, and the assumed smile that occasionally 
phiyed upon his countenance only added to the ghostly ex- 
pression of his fea.tures. Yet he insisted on tiie strict ob- 
servance of court etiquette, apparently resigned to exile, pro- 
vided he might make a show of carrying with him the lustre 
of his race, and the trappings of royalty. The other mem- 
bers of the royal family were cheerful, — even the Duchess 
of Berri, who had assumed male attire, and endeavored to 
soothe her son, who, like young Napoleon at Rambouillet in 
1814, was unwilling to leave his heritage. 

At Cherbourg, we learn from Louis Blanc, "two vessels 
had been prepared to receive the King, his family, and the 
persons of his suite. They were the Gj^eat Brilain, and the 
Charles Carroll, under the command of Captain Duraont 
d'Arville, vessels of republican build, launched in the 
American waters, and belonorincr to members of the Bona- 
parte family. The people are fond of remarking these con- 
trasts ; they are the poetry of history." 

*' At last the parting moment was come. Standing on 
the deck, the old Kina bade farewell to France ; and the 
Great Britain, towed by a steamer, unfurled her sails, 
whilst the guards silently took their way back up the cliffs 
of Cherbourg. Some spectators who lingered on the beach 
watched the course of the vessel, when suddenly they saw 
it turn about and stand in with all speed for the port. Was 
this in consequence of some violent order given by Charles X. 
to the crew ? It might have been feared so ; but every thing 
had been assiduously provided for : a brig commanded by 
Captain Thibault, had received orders to convoy the Great 
Britain, and to sink it if Charles X. made the least attempt 
to act as master." This inexorable forethought was not 
justified by the event. The vessel only returned to take in 
the provisions which had been forgotten. 



184 



RISE AND FALL 



" When every thing was ready, the word of command 
was again given, and the Bourbons sailed away for England, 
crossing perhaps the track once made by the vessel of the 
defeated Stuarts. The sky foreboded no storm ; the wind 
iilled the sails; and the ship disappeared over the sea." 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNj^TURE OF GUIZOT. 




OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 185 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Thk result of the '' three days of July " burst upon en- 
slaved Europe like light from Heaven, and the news of 
Liberty, as it was borne over mountain and vale, plain and 
forest, with the speed of Clan Alpine's fiery cross, awakened 
high hopes in the breasts of starving and vassal millions. 
In Belgium a republican majority wished to shake off the 
phlegmatic rule of Holland, to ally themselves with France, 
whose laws were in their language, and vv^hose established 
religion was their creed. Rhenish Germany, that old 
empire-home of Charlemagne, which for centuries had 
been the nursery of feudal rule, was awakened from her 
slavish slumber by the student-bands of her Universities. 
Poland, so long crushed beneath the iron heel of the Rus- 
sian Autocrat, longed to cast oiF the yoke imposed by the 
treaty of 1815, and combat for freedom with those stern 
purposes and that iron courage which has ever animated 
her brave sons, wherever their swords have flashed in de- 
fence of the inalienable rights of man. Italy, *'the mother 
of nations," was in a state of political fermentation which 
needed but a signal to burst out into open revolt, drive home 
the Austrians, and establish an united government, whose 
flag could wave in security over the tombs of Cicero, of 
Brutus, and of the Gracchi. Switzerland sought to shake 
off the yoke of an oligarchy, republican indeed, but inso- 
lent, as all republican institutions are. The llluminati at 
Vienna, and the proud nobles of Hungary, were ready to 
fisrht shoulder to shoulder ao-ainst the imbecile head of the 
House of Hapsburg and his despotic Minister, the crafty 
Metternich. Old Spain had lost the American colonies, 
those brightest jewels of her crown, and their people well 
IG* 



186 RISE AND FALL 

knew that the priests but awaited the accession of Don 
Carlos to rekindle the fires of the Inquisition. Portugal, 
though cowering under the bloody rule of that capricious 
maniac Don Miguel, only waited for a friendly hand to open 
the way for her resurrection. In short, the chord struck 
in Paris vibrated from one end of Europe to the other, 
and a signal from France would have swept away princes, 
kings, and emperors. 

Such being the state of affairs, what ought to have been 
the external policy of Louis Philippe 1 Should he have 
entered into the traditional system of ancient alliances, 
which compelled him to refuse countenance to every revolu- 
tionary movement, or should he have created for Europe a 
new political code, having for its basis, not traditions, but 
necessities 1 Should he have boldly defied the " Holy 
Alliance " of monarchs, and aided their subjects in accom- 
plishing the great work of their regeneration 1 — or should 
he have isolated France from the surrounding nations, 
and exerted his power to crush at home and abroad the 
republican principles which had elevated him, to strengthen 
his dynasty ? 

The Propagandists 'thought, if one of their ablest writers 
is correct,* that a monarchy produced in three days by the 
sovereignty of the people, could not long co-exist with the 
old doctrines of legitimacy, which the late revolution had 
so violently bruited in France. In their opinion the mo- 
ment was decisive for the glory and security of the country ; 
and the interests, as well as the duties of a monarchy, 
resting upon an act destructive of the spirit and the letter 
of the treaties of 1814 and 1815, were evidently, to allow 
the revolutionary movement to travel over its whole national 
sphere, to sweep away, as far as the Rhine, the ignominy of 
those treaties, and from thence to call forth an entire change 
of the public law of Europe, which was a work of violence. 



Monsieur B. Sarrans, Jr., Aid-de-camp to General Lafayette. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 187 

a conglomeration of alliances against nature, and of burdens 
without compensation, which certainly could bind the 
oppressed nations only so long as they should want the 
means of emancipating themselves from it. 

As to the faith of treaties, it appeared to the Propagan- 
dists that in political morality it was a horrible perversion 
of right, to make them an instrument of oppression and 
ruin. In proof of this, they cited all the wars which even 
those who invoked the treaties had undertaken, to get rid 
of obligations they had imposed upon themselves. What, 
said they, did Austria care about all the treaties which she 
concluded with the republic, the consulate, and the empire? 
In what manner did England observe the treaty of Amiens, 
Prussia those of Presburg and of Tilsit, and Russia that 
same treaty of Vienna, which had granted to heroic Po- 
land a semblance of nationality, and some appearance of 
liberty 1 

They saw no stability for the Revolution of July but in 
a combination of analogous disturbances, which should 
destroy all the bonds of patronage and inferiority established 
by the treaties of 1814 and 1815. Treaties by virtue of 
which Prussia ruled from Thionville to Memel, Austria 
from the Lake of Constance to the gates of Belgrade, and 
from the Tanaro to the frontiers of Turkey ; and — what 
is far more alarming to the civilization of Europe — by virtue 
of which a serai-barbarous empire had established itself 
upon the Oder, from whence it menaced the Elbe, the 
Weser, and the Rhine. All these nations had immoderately 
extended their territories, and every one knows the rich 
dominions which British disinterestedness is constantly 
subjugating, at the expense of the conquered. 

The prevalent idea that the Propagandists wished to seize 
upon half of Europe, is incorrect. They merely hoped to 
restore the balance of power, not by the tearing asunder of 
States, but by a just return to the principle of natural 
nationality, which would not have bound Louis Philippe to 



188 RISE AN'D FALL 

have ratified the spoliation of Landau, of Philippeville, of 
Chamberry, or of Huninguen. In their opinion, France 
ought to have made herself as strong by her alliances as by 
her own weight; and they beheld her allies not in the great 
powers, but in the states of the second order, which from 
the war of the Reformation she had taken under her pro- 
tection — in the Poles, the Belgians, the Swedes, the Danes, 
the independent members of the Germanic family, the free 
men of every country. Above all, the Propagandists^ 
recollecting with pride that France had at all times united 
her cause with that of weak and oppressed nations — 
that, though Catholic herself, she had undertaken the de- 
fence of Protestantism — that although an absolute monar- 
chy, she had fought for a republican insurrection, and 
demanded loudly that her popular doctrines should now be 
conveyed to the Rhine, to the Pyrenees, to the other side 
of the Alps. That presenting herself there either to assist 
or arbitrate, she should have guaranteed to those nations 
that wished to be free, the ri^ht of becominop so, and to 
those, if such were to be found, who preferred absolute 
power, the liberty to keep it. They did not think that a 
dynasty, whose power sprang from the popular cannon, 
should reject the traditional system of its ancient alliances 
to consolidate itself by enslaving popular rights at home, 
and aiding to crush them abroad. 

" I know not," says M. Sarrans, " what would have been 
the result if the external policy of the Propagandists had 
been carried into effect. But I do know that the over- 
turning of the most ancient throne in Europe, the unex- 
pected return of England to ideas liberal beyond expecta- 
tion, the resurrection of Belijium, the wonderful combats 
of Poland, the convulsions of Italy, the movements in 
Switzerland, the commotions in Germany, and even the 
patriotic reminiscences of Spain, seemed to announce that 
the time had arrived fur the complete restoration of French 
liberty, and for the emancipation of all Europe." 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 189 

Louis Philippe had not been seated on his throne a fort- 
night, before it was evident that he was decidedly opposed 
to Propagandism, and that he sought to rule France by 
cunning management, sacrificing her interests to a misera- 
ble, almost morbid, and in a monarch, contemptible nepo- 
tism. The progress of Republicanism would endanger his 
throne, and it was not only well to have the friendship of 
the great powers to sustain him as he moved on with 
stealthy craft towards absolutism, but that his sceptre might 
descend to his son. Besides, if he adopted a warlike policy, 
there w^as no hope of his increasing his revenues, or ren- 
dering his dynasty permanent. Napoleon had bound up the 
shattered fragments of French society in the chains of a 
vast military despotism, weighty beyond measurement, 
which had defied and menaced the whole world, but it 
had no vital principle. It was a machine capable of work- 
ing great ends whilst the strong arm drove the wheel ; 
without that it was nothing — it had no active power native 
to it, or adherent in it. Louis Philippe undertook to incor- 
porate the elements of French moral and political life in a 
new form, substituting the purse for the sword, and advocat- 
ing peace that he might amass wealth and marry his chil- 
dren among all the royalties in Europe. Apparently uncon- 
scious of his duty towards his subjects and the principles to 
which he owed his aggrandizement, his coffers and his family 
seem to have been his first thoughts. His kingdom was 
but the means by which the one might be filled and the 
other aggrandized. 

The lourgeoisie supported the ''Napoleon of Peace," 
(as Louis Philippe christened himself,) for the same reasons 
that led him to humiliate France. Peaceable shopkeepers 
and manufacturers, they were nervously alive to the fear of 
unforeseen contingencies, and the very name of war inspired 
them with dread, for in it they beheld only the interruption 
of commercial relations, the loss of markets, failures, and 
bankruptcy. They could not comprehend the difference 



190 RISE AND FALL 

between a war spirit, which leaves little behind but the 
memory of the blood and treasure that has been wasted, 
and that necessary attitude of armed defiance which it 
behooved France to assume, in justice to herself and to the 
cause of liberty. 

Louis Blanc asserts, that even without stepping out of 
the narrow sphere to which a constitutional monarchy con- 
fined the revolution of July, the new dynasty might have 
carved out for itself an independent and original course in 
Europe, had it been happily inspired. Louis Philippe 
mio;ht have said to the Powers, "In the name of the French 
bourgeoisie, of which I am the representative, I adhere to the 
territorial arrangements stipulated by the treaties of 1815, 
and I repudiate every idea of conquest. I pledge myself, 
moreover, to set up a permanent barrier against the torrent of 
revolution. But in order that I may fulfil this twofold mission, 
it is essential that the principles, by virtue of which I am 
king, and which are those of the bourgeoisie^ shall acquire 
force and authority in Europe. I cannot bridle democratic 
and conquering France, without the help of constitutional 
Europe. My cause being identical with that of the bour- 
geoisie, I cannot long count on its sympathies at home, unless 
I make its doctrines and its interests triumphant abroad. In 
proclaiming that all governments were responsible to, and 
for each other, the Holy Alliance laid down a just principle, 
of which it only remains to make an application, conforma- 
ble to the course of events and ideas. The constitutional 
system exists in England; it has just obtained the upper- 
hand in France; it may easily be introduced into Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, and Belgium ; it aspires to be perfected in 
Germany. Well then, in the name of bourgeois France, 
which has placed the crown on my head, I offer my support 
to the bourgeoisie in all the countries of Europe, and I 
offer the alliance of France, and the peace of the world, 
as the price of the adoption of the constitutional principle." 

This language, Blanc goes on to say, certainly would 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 191 

not have been the adequate expression of all the noble 
passions, or of all the legitimate interests of France; but 
it was the only language that could have been held becom- 
ingly and judiciously, in a monarchical and bourgeois point 
of view. Had war broken out in this case, royalty would 
have found support within and without ; it would have 
engaged in its favor the popularity acquired by a show of 
energy ; and far from exposing itself to the assaults of 
the democratic spirit, it would have turned its own wea- 
pons against it. 

But Louis Philippe had another path marked out, and 
wrote to the sovereiiins of Europe, representing his acces- 
sion " as an unfortunate but inevitable act of resistance to 
imprudent aggressions." William IV. of England, was 
the first to recognise the " Citizen King," and the adhe- 
sions of Austria and of Prussia soon followed, while the 
Kinof of Holland was delicrhted to see one on the throne of 
France who renounced the left bank of the Rhine and 
Belgium. Ferdinand VH. of Spain, postponed his answer, 
and published a diplomatic circular, as insulting to the new 
monarch as to the nation that had chosen him, while the 
Duke of Modena, the ruler of a petty Italian province, 
insolently protested against the usurpation. And finally, the 
Emperor Nicholas, unprepared for war, thought it expedient 
to write the following rather contemptuous letter, omitting 
the appellation of My Brother, which had been lavishly 
used in Louis Philippe's notification. 

" Zarskoe-Scho, Sept 18,1830. 

" I have received from the hands of General Aihalin the letter of 
which he has been the bearer. Events for ever to be deplored 
have placed your Majesty in a cruel alternative. Your Majesty 
has adopted a determination which appeared to you the only one 
fitted to save France from the greatest calamities, and 1 will not 
utter any judgment upon the considerations which have guided 
your Majesty, but I pray that Divine Providence may be pleased 
to bless your intentions and the e^brt^ you are about to make for 



192 RISE AND FALL 

the welfare of the French people. In concert with my allies, I 
accept with pleasure the wishes expressed by your Majesty to 
maintain relations of peace and amity with all the states of 
Europe. As long as these relations shall be based on the existing 
treaties, and on the firm resolution to respect the rights and obli- 
gations, and the state of territorial possession which those treaties 
have ratified, Europe will find therein a guarantee for that peace 
which is so necessary to the repose of France herself. Called in 
conjunction with my allies to cultivate these conservative relations 
with France, under her government, I w^ill for my part bring to 
them all the solicitude they demand, and the dispositions of 
which I gladly offer your Majesty the assurance, in return for the 
sentiments your Majesty has expressed to me. I pray your Majesty 

to accept at the same lime, &lc. &c. 

" Nicholas." 

The ominious reserve of this letter was not to be mis- 
taken, and, to conciliate its imperial writer, Poland was 
doomed to find verified the touching phrase of its despair, 
" God is too high, and France is too far." The other hostile 
sovereigns were forced into recognising the Orleans dynasty 
by a profuse distribution of money to the Spanish and 
Italian revolutionists, who were deserted when Louis Phi- 
lippe had gained his desired ends ; it was to them, and to 
the agents who brought about the French struggle, that he 
paid away the immense wealth of the house of Orleans, 
employing the very money which had been granted him by 
Charles X. for his overthrow. 

Meanwhile Louis Philippe continued to play the Bour- 
geois, and acted his part to perfection. The only guard at 
his palace was a corps of one hundred men, who had en- 
rolled themselves voluntarily during the three days' convul- 
sion, appointed their own officers, and wore their citizens' 
dresses. These did not accompany him in his promenades 
through the city, with his broad hat and large umbrella, 
and sometimes " his wife," as he called the Q,ueen. The 
people were enchanted with his smiles and humility, all 
Paris echoing with his request one day when incommoded 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 193 

by the pressure of the crowd in the Palais Royal, to have 
*' a portion of that liberty which was the birthright of every 
Frenchman." The Princesses used frequently to go unat- 
tended to the shops of their trades-people to make purchases, 
refusing to let them be sent home unless too cumbrous for 
them to carry with propriety, and when buying any thing 
for the use of the dueen, invariably speaking of her as 
" Maman." 

A dozen people had only to cry *' Vive le Roi/' under 
the palace windows to bring Louis Philippe out upon the 
balcony, and the Valets-de-place used to give strangers a 
sight of him, bowing, laying his hand upon his heart, and 
swearing to support the charter, &c. An English traveller 
who had paid two francs for witnessing this patriotic demon- 
stration, was persuaded by his cicerone to give him five 
francs more, for which he promised to make Louis Philippe 
sing the Marseillaise. No sooner did the valet pocket the 
money than he again shouted "Xe Roi ! Le Roi!" — again 
did the crowd assembled echo the cry most loyally — once 
more did the King appear, show himself to the people and 
proclaim his readiness to defend the charter. But just as 
he was making his parting bow, the hoarse voice of the 
valet bellowed "La Marseillaise ! La Marseillaise ! " — 
and he began himself to scream the air in a discordant tone. 
The strain was caught up by the bystanders, while Louis Phi- 
lippe, leaning against the iron railing of the balcony, joined 
in it right lustily — beating the time with his glove upon 
the crown of the shako of the national guard, which he held 
in his hand. 

Notwithstanding this want of moral elevation, the patri- 
otic bankers and "free and independent" grocers were 
delighted with their " Citizen King," he was such a good 
father, and shook hands vi^ith them all so kindly. Paternal 
love is a highly commendable feeling, but is no plea in 
defence of crime or breach of trust, yet in the brain cov- 
ered by that often doffed beaver, there lurked even the idea 
17 



194 



RISE AND FALL 



of fortifying Paris, and depressing France, that the children 
of that " hon fere de famille," might be dowered at home, 
or wedded abroad at the risk of the peace of Europe. 

While thousands of intelligent Frenchmen felt a profound 
conviction that their beloved land was at last in a fair way 
to attain perfect liberty, and placed entire confidence in the 
republican sentiments and revolutionary enthusiasm which 
they had credulously decked with a citizen-crown, Joseph 
Bonaparte, an exile in America, thus strikingly predicted 
the course of the Orleans dynasty. Overshadowed in the 
proximity to his brother, whose immense genius so obscured 
all those who were about him, historians are too apt to 
undervalue the talents and wisdom of the Ex-King of 
Spain. 

" September 18, 1830. 
" To the Chamber of Deputies at Paris : 

" Gentlemen : — The memorable events which have again raised 
in France the national colors, and destroyed the order of things 
established by the invader in the intoxication of his success, have 
shown forth the nation in its true light ; the great capital has re- 
suscitated the great nation. 

" Proscribed far from the soil of my country, I should have pre- 
sented myself there along with this letter, had I not read amongst 
many names acknowledged by the liberality of the nation, that of 
a Prince of the house of Bourbon, The events of the last days 
of July have placed in a strong light this historical truth; it is im- 
possible for a family, reigning by divine right, to maintain them- 
selves upon the throne, after they have been once driven out by 
the nation, because it is not possible that princes born with the pre- 
tension of having been predestined to rule over a people, should 
ever divest themselves of the prejudices of their birth. Had not 
the divorce, too, between the house of Bourbon and the French 
people, been pronounced? Yes; and nothing could destroy the 
recollections of the past. So much blood, battles, glory, progress 
in every sort of civilization, such miracles worked by the nation 
under the influence of liberal doctrines, were so many firebrands 
of discord every day rekindled between the governing and the 
governed. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 195 

" Wearied with so many revolutions, and anxious to find peace 
under a charter given and accepted as the anchor of safety after 
so many storms, the good were in vain ready fur all sacrifices ; 
more powerful than men, the f*)rce of destiny was there, and no- 
thing could reconcile the man of former times, and who had stood 
still, with those whom thirty years of revolution had elevated 
and regenerated. In vain the Duke of Orleans abjures his family 
in the moment of their misfortunes; Bourbon hmiseif having re- 
turned to France sword in hand with the Bourbons in the train of 
the invaders, what concerns it that his father voted the death of 
the King, his cousin, to put himself in his stead? What concerns 
it, that the brother of Louis the Sixteenth appoints him Lieuten- 
ant-General of the kingdom and Regent of his grandson? Is he 
the less a Bourbon? Has he, on that account, the less pretension 
to have been called to the throne by the right of birth ? It is in- 
deed upon the choice of the people, or upon divine right, that he 
relies to establish himself on the throne of his ancestors. Will 
his children think otherwise ? Do not the past and the present 
clearly enough predict the future under a branch of this family? 
Did not the 14th of July, and 10th of August announce well 
enough these last days of July, 1830 ? And these days in their 
turn, threaten the nation with a new 28th of July, at a period not 
far distant! You build on sand, if you forget these everlasting 
truths ; you will be accountable to the nation and to posterity, for 
the new calamities to which you subjectthem. No, gentlemen, 
there is no legitimacy upon earth, but in government which is the 

choice of the nation. 

^'Joseph Bonaparte." 



196 



RISE AXD FALL 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Prior to the '' three days of July," there was no organ- 
ized Republican party in France, which could make any 
pretensions to the fruits of that revolution, but no sooner 
was Louis Philippe seated upon the throne, than the liberal 
ideas which had been engendered by the organization of a 
new government began to take root. In proportion as men 
compared more carefully what they had obtained, with what 
it seemed to them they might have obtained, was their dis- 
affection increased at the thoughts of the chance they had 
lost ; and they at length began to conceive themselves de- 
frauded of a prize which might indeed have been within 
their reach, but for which in reality they had never con- 
tended. Hence arose the Republican party which after- 
wards triumphed in 1848, and although it gradually assumed 
an affinity with the parties of 1789 and 1793, it is certain 
that it was not derived by any continuous tradition or 
descent from the factions of those famous periods.* It was 
composed of men whose spirits had never settled into 
quietude since the three days' fermentation, and who had 
persuaded themselves, too late, that a republican form of 
government was that which alone was fitted for France, and 
which they had unhappily missed. Finding that in their 
constitutional King they had got a master, not a servant, 
their rage was intense in proportion to the degree to which 
they had duped themselves. 

The first decisive step taken by Louis Philippe was a 
display of clemency towards the imprisoned ex-ministers, 
who had, by their counsels, induced Charles X. to violate 

* Edinburgh Review for April, 1848. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 197 

the charter. *' To turn them over to the executioner would 
be a bloody pledge given to the revolution, at the risk of 
still more exasperating kings," so it was determined to try 
them by the Chamber of Peers, instead of the legal tribu- 
nal. This incensed the populace, whose desire for equality 
was offended at thus committing its justice to an unpopular 
and antiquated authority, composed of men in power, and 
when the King's personal influence procured a resolution 
from the Chamber of Deputies, recommending the abolition 
of the penalty of death, there were serious disturbances. 
Some of these originated at the clubs which had sprung up 
with the revolution, many of them organized on the old 
Jacobin model. It was in these assemblies that political 
and social questions were discussed with that freedom and 
enthusiasm, which subsequently generated so many strange 
principles and elicited so many strange projects, and it was 
by the organization which they rendered practicable, that 
such concert and vigor was given to demonstrations, which 
would otherwise have been insignificant. The rules of 
several required each member to own a musket, and a regu- 
lar attendance at weekly drills. When the Belgian revolu- 
tion broke out, the " Societe des Amis du Peuple," 
despatched a battalion to aid the insurgents, which it had 
armed and e«iuipped at its own expense. 

Odilon Barrot, then Prefect of the Seine, (an office 
equivalent to Mayor of Paris,) published a proclamation 
denouncing the agitators, but also casting a slur upon the 
resolution presented to the King by the Chamber of Depu- 
ties, This proclamation was a source of great vexation to 
Louis Philippe, to whom its author had previously made 
himself unpopular by his liberal principles, and his opposi- 
tion to monarchical forms. His dismissal was resolved on, 
but Lafayette and Dupont de I'Eure both opposed it in 
council, and said that in case it was ordered they would 
resign. The matter was postponed until the next day, when 
I he King entered with a smile on his face, and going up to 
17* 



198 RISE AND FALL 

Dupont de I'Eure, said, '' Well, mon cher, Barrot is to 
resign, for Lafayette consents to it," " Lafayette consents, 
sire ! your Majesty must be mistaken," was the reply. " I 
had it from his own lips, Monsieur." " Permit me, Sire," 
rejoined Dupont de I'Eure, " to believe that there is some 
mistake on your part. Monsieur de Lafayette has held very 
different language to me, and I do not think the General 
capable of such contradictory language — but now let me 
speak of myself. Since Odilon Barrot retires, let me repeat 
my request that your Majesty will accept my resignation." 
" But you said quite the contrary to me this morning." "I, 
Sire ! this time I affirm that you are in error." " What, 
Monsieur, you give me the lie ? Every one shall know how 
you have affronted me." " Sire," replied Dupont de I'Eure, 
with dignity, " when the King shall have said, yes, and 
Dupont de I'Eure shall have said, no, I know not which of 
the two France will believe." 

This strange scene, says Louis Blanc, had thrown the Min- 
isters into indescribable confusion. The King's emotion was 
extreme. The Garde cles Sceaux had risen and was retiring, 
when the Duke of Orleans, who was present at the council, 
immediately went up to him, and taking him by the hnnd, led 
him to the King and said, " Father, M. Dupont de I'Eure is 
an honest man. All this matter can be nothing more than a 
misunderstanding." The King was softened and embraced 
his Minister, who, likewise affected, consented to retain an 
authority, the possession of which was still not without 
danger. As for Messieurs de Broglie, Guizot, Mole, Casi- 
mer Perier, Dupin, and Bignon, they well knew that the 
exercise of power, such as they understood it, would be 
paralyzed in their hands as long as they should have Lafay- 
ette for their superior, Dupont de I'Eure for their colleague, 
and Odilon Barrot for their subordinate. They resolved 
therefore to withdraw for a time from office. 

Another obnoxious measure was the appointment of 
Talleyrand as Ambassador to London, which annihilated all 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 199 

hopes of joining Belgium to France, and brought about the 
English alliance. Nor was the past life of this prostituted 
diplomatist, such as to lead the friends of progress to hope 
for any advancement of their principles, from one whose 
greatest merit consisted in a thorough knowledge of every 
form and degree of human baseness, from having experi- 
mented upon them in his own person. He had risen through 
the protection of the courtezans who dishonored the last days 
of the monarchy, and who contributed to its ruin. He had 
become Bishop of Autun on the eve of th^ church's down- 
fall. He, a Grand Seigneur, had been seen on the famous 
anniversary of the 14th of July, officiating at the altar of 
the country as high priest of that revolution, which gave 
the death-blow to the aristocracy whereof he was a member. 
He had his share of authority, when the I8th Fructidor 
smote his patrons. He had won the portfolio of foreign 
affiiirs by the revolution of the ISth Brumaire, directed 
against his friend Barras. In 1814 he had proclaimed him- 
self head of the provisional government, whilst his bene- 
factor, Napoleon, was meditating at Fontainbleau over the 
ruins of the empire. And now that the dynasty, to which 
he had offered his patronage in 1814, was exiled in its turn, 
he reappeared on the stage once more to bid good day to 
fortune. 

The English alliance being secured by relinquishing all 
claim to Belgium, Louis Philippe alarmed Ferdinand VH. into 
apologizing for the insult he had offered to his government, 
by encouraging the revolutionary projects got up by Span- 
iards against their own government. Mina and Valdes 
received a liundred thousand francs from the King's privy 
purse, to enable them to raise the standard of revolt in the 
Basque provinces and on the frontiers of Catalonia, armed 
bands set out from Paris, depots of muskets were estab- 
lished, and every assurance of protection was given by the 
government. But when Ferdinand VIT. made the amende 
honorable, and professed a desire to maintain friendly rela- 



200 RISE AND FALL 

tions with the King of the French, Louis Philippe sent 
counter orders by telegraph to the frontier, and not only 
suspended his pledged assistance, but permitted the royalist 
troops to pursue the defeated insurgents into the French 
territory. Those who escaped the massacre, were sent into 
the interior of France, and placed under strict surveillance. 
The trial of the ex-ministers created a great excitement, 
and was considered a test of the strength of Louis Philippe's 
power. Thanks to General Lafayette, and his devoted 
national guards, order was preserved, and an immense mob 
held in check, which had assembled to besiege the Cham- 
ber of Peers, and sully the sanctuary of justice with the 
blood of the accused. Louis Philippe was profuse in the 
expression of thanks to his " dear General," but now that 
the danger was past, determined to cast him oflf. Meditat- 
ing the revival of that royal etiquette and antiquated pomp 
which Lafayette thought were buried forever, the ambitious 
monarch felt humiliated under the influence of a citizen, 
whose very presence reminded him incessantly cf the pro- 
gramme of July, and the republican conditions of the 
barricades — one who styled himself "the man of public 
order and of liberty, loving his popularity much better than 
his life, but determined to sacrifice both rather than neglect 
a duty or suffer a crime." * The Chamber of Peers beheld 
in the General the declared enemy of hereditary right, and 
the Deputies were so alarmed at his wish to convoke a 
Primary Assembly, that they were easily persuaded to take 
from him, (by abolishing the office,) the title of Commander 
General of the National Guards of the kingdom, and this 
too while at Paris, still throbbing though tranquillized, was 
attesting the riiagnitude of the service he had rendered in 
maintaining order. Without any previous intimation, and 
when the General was absent from the Chamber, the law 



* Lafayette's Order of the Day, December 19, 1830. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



201 



was passed on the 24th of December. The next morning 
Lafayette wrote the following letter to Louis Philippe : 

" Paris, December 25, 1830. 

*' Sire, — The resolution passed yesterday by the Chamber of 
Deputies, with the assent of the King's ministers, for the sup- 
pression of the office of Commander-in-chief of the National Guards, 
at the very moment the law is going to be put to the vote, ex- 
presses already the opinions of two branches of the legislative 
power, and above all of that which I have the honor to be a mem- 
ber. I should consider myself as failing in respect, if I awaited 
any other formality before tendering to the King, as I now do, my 
resignation of the powers which his ordinance had conferred upon 
me. Your Majesty knows, and the correspondence of the general 
staff will prove it, if required, that their exercise has not been so 
illusory, up to this period, as was represented in the tribune. 
The patriotic solicitude of your Majesty will supply its place ; 
and, for example, it will be important to dispel by ordinances 
which the law has left at your discretion, the uneasiness which 
has been produced by the parcelling out of the rural battalions, 
and the apprehension of seeing confined to the frontier towns and 
those of the coast, that very useful institution, the citizen artil- 
lery. 

" The President of the Council has been so good as to propose 
to bestow on me the title of honorary commander ; he will, him- 
self, be sensible, and your Majesty will conceive, that those nomi- 
nal decorations are suitable neither to the institutions of a free 
country nor to myself. 

" In delivering up, respectfully and gratefully, into the hands 
of your Majesty, the sole ordinance which invests me with author- 
ity over the national guards, I have taken measures to prevent 
the service from suffering by it. General Dumas will take the 
orders of the Minister of the Interior; General Carbonnel will reg- 
ulate the service of the capital, until it shall please your Ma- 
jesty to appoint another in his place, which he requests may be 
done. 

" I beg your Majesty to accept the cordial tribute of my attach- 
ment and respect. " Lafayette." 

Who will believe it 1 On the 25th, at noon, Louis Philippe 



202 RISE AND FALL 

was yet ignorant of the debates that had taken place the 
evening before, in the Chamber of Deputies, upon a ques- 
tion which, for two months, had wholly occupied the Court 
and the town. Be that as it might, here follows the King's 
answer : — 

"I have this instant received, my dear General, your letter, 
which has grieved as much as surprised me by the decision you 
have taken ; / have not yet had time to read tJie journals. The 
Council of Ministers meet at one o'clock ; I shall then be at liberty ; 
that is to say, between four and five, when I hope to see you, and 
to persuade you to retract your determination. 

" Accept, my dear General, &c. 

" Louis Philippe." 

Lafayette attended the King's appointment, and was re- 
received with the liveliest marks of affection. Louis Philippe 
seemed inconsolable at what had taken place the day before 
in the Chamber of Deputies, and above all, at the part 
which his Ministers had unwillingly taken in it, and without 
any evil intention. " But," added the King, " the deplor- 
able article has not yet become law, and I shall be very 
well able " _- " Sire," said Lafayette, " the dis- 
trusts of my colleagues, and the dismissal they have pronoun- 
ced against me, as far as in them lay, impose on my delicacy 
the duty of not holding any longer an authority which 
offends them, and the principle of which, notwithstanding 
its temporary utility, has, besides, been at all times con- 
demned by myself. Moreover, being entirely resolved to 
prosecute by every means in my power the abolition of the 
hereditary peerage, it does not become me to await, on the 
part of the Chamber of Peers, a confirmation which would 
place it in a species of hostility towards me, or a favorable 
amendment which would lay me under obligation to it. 
Besides," added he, " I will candidly confess to your Ma- 
jesty, that in this I find for myself not only a duty, but a fit 
occasion." — " Explain yourself," said the King. — " Sire," 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 203 

replied Lafayette, " your system of government is no longer 
mine It appears to me that public confidence has placed a 
trust in my hands ; I cannot refer you to it in writing ; it 
exists in opinion, in the air perhaps ; but in short, the 
French people, and many patriots of all countries, persuade 
themselves that where I am there is no risk that liberty will 
suffer. Now, I see that liberty is menaced, compromised, 
and I will deceive no one. Both at home and abroad, the 
measures of your government not being such as 1 consider 
conducive to the interests of liberty, there would be a want 
of candor on my part were I to remain longer, like an 
opaque body, between the people and the executive. When 
I am removed from the government, every one will know 
better how the matter stands." 

The question being placed upon this ground, the King 
strove earnestly to combat what he called the prejudices 
of Lafayette. But neither his manifestations of an un- 
bounded friendship, nor his reiterated offer to revoke the 
deplorable clause, could blind the General to the real state 
of things ; and they had no other effect than to make him 
repeat to the last moment of that conversation ; " Sire, you 
offer me many personal concessions, but nothing for the pub- 
lic weal ; and it is that, and not myself, which is in ques- 
tion." 

The King requested twenty-four hours to consider the 
questions which had arisen between him and the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the National Guards. Lafayette as- 
sented to that delay, in the hope that it would be employed 
in mature reflection, and perhaps produce a return to better 
courses. Vain hope ! In that interval the President of the 
Council, the Minister of the Interior, and some of the 
principal officers of the National Guard, came to repeat to 
him the assurances of regard, and the offers of reparation, 
which he had received at the Palais Royal ; but of the guaran- 
tees he had claimed for the disregarded principles of the 
revolution of July, not a word was said, Lafayette answered 



204 RISE AND FALL 

them as he had answered the King, '' Every thing for lib- 
erty, nothing for myself." 

On the same occasion, the Prime Minister having deputed 
a common friend to sound the intentions of Lafayette relative 
to the forming of a new Cabinet, the General replied that if 
certain patriots, whom he named, or any others of the same 
way of thinking, should come into power in place of the men 
whose proceedings appeared to him contrary to the principles 
and the engagementsof July, he should consider that change 
as the precursor of a better future. He also wrote to that 
effect to M. Lafitte, who laid his letter before the Council, 
which displeased several of its members in the highest 
degree. 

The pretended exactions of Lafayette went no further. 
To impose entire silence upon his own susceptibility ; to 
lay aside all self-love ; to consent to every insignificant re- 
paration, such as the postponement of the execution of the 
article of the law which concerned himself; in short, to 
give way to every thing they desired, in the hope of obtain- 
ing, under favor of that difficult conjuncture, a better sys- 
tem of government ; such, and such only, whatever may 
have been said of the matter, were the exorhitant 'preten- 
sions of the man who had consented to place the crown 
upon the head of the new King. But since, whilst over- 
whelming him with praises and professions of attachment, the 
disastrous system of a g'wasi-restoration was undeviatingly 
persisted in, it became the duty of Lafayette to satisfy the 
adversaries of his influence, by divesting himself of a com- 
mand from which the Chamber and the government had 
dismissed him five times in a single sitting, and to cease to 
serve as a cloak to the anti-French combinations which 
his remaining at the head of the National Guards might 
have hidden from the patriots. When, therefore, the re. 
quired twenty-four hours had elapsed, without having 
brought any symptom of a change of system, he wrote to 
the King : — 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



205 



Sunday, Dec. 25, 1830. 
•'Sire, — Your Majesty told me yesterday that the subject of 
our conversation should be concluded this day. I have seen MM 
Lafilte and Montalivet ; they have spoken to me of the amendment 
wliich tiie I'resident of the Council intends to propose. But, Sire, 
you know well that it does not remove the objections which I took 
the liberty of submitting to you. I mentioned to M. de Montalivet 
that I looked upon myself as having given in my resignation, and 
I imagine he will have issued his orders in consequence. However, 
I think it my duty to repeat it to the King, because, General 
Carb(mnel and ray son having followed my fortune, as likewise 
Major General Tracy, it is necessary that orders should be issued 
for to-morrow's service. Believe me. Sire, the duty which I con- 
sider I am fulfilling, is more painful to me than 1 can express ; and 
now, more than ever, it behooves me to join with the tribute of my 
respect, that of my profound and unalterable attachment. 

" Lafayette." 

The preceding accounts of the quarrel between Louis 
Philippe and Lafayette, is translated from a work by Sar- 
rans, the General's Aid-de-camp at the time, who wrote it 
under his direction. A distinguished American gentleman 
was told by Lafayette that " he and Louis Philippe had vir- 
tually given each other * the lie^' as respects the celebrated 
programme of the Hotel de Ville. The good old General 
regarded the King as the prince of dissimulation." * 

Dupont de I'Eure resigned at once, for he could not re- 
main in a cabinet whose political sympathies were so little 
in accordance with his own, or serve a monarch whose po- 
litical tergiversation was so notorious. Lafayette, his dis- 
tinguished patron, carried with him to the grave the repub- 
lican principles which he maintained in youth ; Napoleon, 
even after his crushing defeat at Waterloo, still held in the 
Chambers the language of the despotic Emperor ; Charles X, 
could risk a throne, but could not, notwithstanding the pres- 
ent necessity of the case, abate one jot of his prerogative ; 

* J. Fenuimore Cooper. 

18 



206 RISE AND FALL 

Dumoiiriez, Carnot and Lafitte, all died, as they had lived, 
steady, inflexible advocates of the revolutionary principle of 
democracy; bat Louis Philippe — apparently either hypo- 
critically cunning, or incapable of deep-rooted impressions 
— changed to suit his purpose with the change of times. 
The upholder of republicanism in his youth, in age he 
tasked the utmost powers of his intellect to crush it, setting 
public opinion as much at defiance as any of the old Bour- 
bons in the most palmy days of their rule. 



FACSIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF ARAGO. 





LOUIS PHILIPPE EECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 207 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Belgians selected two candidates for their constitu- 
tional crown, the Duke of Nemours, and the Duke of Leuch- 
temberg, a son of Eugene Beauharnais. Louis Philippe 
opposed the former, because he was objected to by England, 
and the latter, because he feared the presence of one of the 
Napoleon family so near France. When his son was 
elected by a majority of one, he refused the offered crown, 
using language which could not have expressed his real 
thoughts, unless his opinions were afterwards entirely 
changed. '* The examples of Louis XIV. and of Napo- 
leon," he said, " are sufficient to save me from the tempta- 
tion of procuring thrones for my children." The time 
had not arrived, he should have said, and by refusing the 
crown offered to his son, he acquired a right, of which he 
availed himself, to forbid its acceptance by his dreaded 
rival. But above all, Louis Philippe thus secured the alliance 
of England. 

Just then there arrived at Paris the Manifesto of Poland, 
setting forth her rights and woes in a determined tone that 
showed how unavailing had been all that the most ruthless 
and the most inhuman use of the most unlimited earthly 
power could effect, to annihilate her people, destroy her 
language, and root out her nationality. It concluded with 
these words. 

" Convinced that our liberty and our independence, far from 
ever having been hostile as regards conterminal States, have on 
the contrary served in all times as an equipoise and a buckler to 
Europe, and can still be more useful to it than ever, we appear 
before sovereigns and nations with the certainty that the voices 
alike of policy and of humanity would' be lifted up in our favor. 



208 RISE AND FALL 

Had Providence destined this land to perpetual servitude, and if 
in this last struggle the liberty of Poland must sink under the 
rnins of her cities and the corpses of her defenders, our enemy- 
shall reign only over deserts ; and every good Pole will have this 
consolation in his dying moments, that in this battle to the death, 
he has for a moment shielded the threatened liberty of Europe." 

In commenting on this grand and melancholy appeal, 
Louis Blanc pays a just tribute of praise to the United 
States, as well as to those gallant men, who, with a noble 
literature, and a history which may challenge that of any 
other State for heroism and brilliant achievements in the 
cause of Christianity and mankind, preferred death or exile to 
the Russian yoke. '' With her face turned towards the west," 
he says, " Poland invoked the tutelary genius of that 
French people which of yore had gone to save the Chris- 
tians of the Holy Land; which had filled all the history of 
the middle ages with the valor of her knights ; which on 
the eve of a deep-searching and memorable revolution had 
sent the noblest of her children to succor the young free- 
dom of the new world ; which at the close of the eighteenth 
century had deluged the battle-field and the scaffold with 
her blood, to propagate a doctrine of fraternity; which 
lastly, under the Empire, had lavished her strength in 
mortal efforts to open the free paths of the ocean to the 
weaker nations : — a people of fiery soldiers and generous 
adventurers ! But by a strange combination of historical 
fatalities a government of cold-blooded calculators hung 
heavy on the necks of those soldiers and adventurers. At 
the very moment when from the banks of the Vistula all 
arms were outstretched towards France, the cabinet of the 
Palais Royal suffered the most humiliating and rigorous 
conditions to be imposed on it as the price of a reconcilia- 
tion between it and the court of Russia." 

Austria had also been forced into friendship by insurrec- 
tions in her Italian provinces, planned at the Palais Royal, 
and carried out by drffts on Louis Philippe's bankers. The 



OF LOUIS PIIILirPE. 209 

constitution framed for the Neapolitans by General Pepe, 
with the insurrections of Modena and Bologna, soon 
brought M. d'Appony from Vienna to the Tuileries to offer 
the hand of friendship and the olive-branch of peace from 
the Emperor his master. Both were readily accepted, and 
Louis Philippe, having gained what he desired, left the 
political missionaries he had sent forth, to die under the 
fire of Austrian troops, or linger out a miserable exist- 
ence in the dungeons of Speilburg. 

Having thus by accessions or threats secured the alliance 
of the European powers, Louis Philippe commenced pursuing 
the same policy at home, where anarchy and riot were con- 
tinually breaking out. On the 14th of February, 1831, the 
anniversary of the death of the Duke of Berri, the adherents 
of the fallen Bourbons determined to make a demonstra- 
tion. A high mass for the dead, accompanied with all the 
pomp of the Roman Church, was commenced at the old 
chapel of St. Germain I'Auxenrois, but interrupted by a 
frantic mob, who took the sacred edifice by storm, to enact 
within its walls a shameful saturnalia. The next morning 
the Archbishop's palace was entirely destroyed, with its 
valuable furniture and costly library, rich in old missals and 
rare manuscripts — among them ten volumes of unpublished 
letters from those devoted Jesuits who, in civilizing the 
Abenaquis tribe of American aborigines, performed what 
no other missionaries have succeeded in accomplishing. 
Both the altar and the tomb were polluted by sacrilegious 
hands during this fearful outbreak, while the cross, that 
august and sacred symbol of our redemption and of the 
intellectual renovation of humanity, was pulled down from 
the steeple tops as the insignia of sedition. Louis Blanc 
significantly remarks that after the destruction of the chapel, 
a threatening mob collected in the neighborhood of the 
Palais Royal, " but mysterious instigators, going among the 
people, skilfully diverted the current of its fury, and turning 

18* mi^. ' 



210 RISE AND FALL 

from the Palais Royal, hurried it away to the archiepiscopal 
residence." 

On the 13th of March, Casimer Perier succeeded Lafitte 
as President of the Council of Ministers, and aside from 
politics, this instant setting aside of men to whom Louis 
Philippe owed his throne, created a painful feeling in every 
generous and liberal mind. The only excuse was a desire 
on the part of the monarch to organize a strong and mon- 
archical administration, which would put down all disorder 
with the bayonet and grape-shot. In the royal speech at 
the opening of the parliamentary session in July, after 
announcing that treaties had been renewed with the United 
States, with Mexico, and with Hayti, and that the French 
squadron had forced Don Miguel to terms in Portugal, — 
Louis Philippe concluded by declaring that the time had 
arrived " to put an end, by a uniform action of all the 
powers of the state, to those prolonged agitations, which 
serve as food for the culpable hopes of those who dote 
upon a fallen dynasty or still dream of a republic." 

For some years Paris, Lyons, Grenoble, and in fact almost 
every place of any size in France, witnessed bloody con- 
flicts between the government and the discontented factions, 
who availed themselves of all public occasions for an out- 
break. Republicans, Legitimatists, and Imperialists, each 
mustered their forces, shouldered their guns, sharpened 
their swords, and descended deliberately into the streets, for 
the chance of subverting and seizing a government in a 
possible melee. It was the game on which all parties alike 
were calculating in France — a turn-out and a scramble; 
and if any thing can be more strange than the speculation, 
it would be the fact that on one occasion it almost actually 
succeeded. Each successive defeat increased the ancrer of 
the vanquished, and there were many attending circum- 
stances well calculated to infuriate them. Imagine, for 
instance. Marshal Soult — - a minister under Louis Pliilippe, 
who had become Kina^^Jpcause the troops of Charles X. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 211 

had refused to fire on the people in 1830 — harshly upbraid- 
ing General Roquet's division at Lyons in 1831, because 
they had hesitated to fire upon a band of unarmed silk- 
weavers, vi^ho could earn but seventeen and a half cents for 
eighteen hours' labor ! * 

The Republicans, though unable to seize the reins of 
government, increased rapidly in numbers, and had an able 
organ in '*Le National,'^ a newspaper which had been estab- 
lished to support Louis Philippe. Carrel and Marrast wrote 
the most pointed attacks against the King ; Lafayette, Gar- 
nier Pages, Laraarque, and other bold orators denounced 
his absolute policy from the tribune of the Chamber of 
Deputies, and the heroic Duchess of Berri made an attempt 
to recover the throne of France for her infant son, by appear- 
ing in the southern provinces, in opposition to the wishes 
of her advisers, 

* Louis Blaac's History, &c. (See preceding notes.) 



212 KISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Duchess of Berri landed near Marseilles on the 
night of the 29th of May, 1831, her ardent Neapolitan 
having induced her to believe that as the mother of Henry 
v., success would crown her movements if she but shew 
herself in the kingdom. Some drunken sailors betraying 
the plot to the authorities of Marseilles, the disappointed 
Duchess was obliged to hasten to La Vendee, where her 
adventures were of the most hazardous and romantic 
nature. She assumed the dress of a peasant boy, a dark 
wig concealing her blond hair, and known as Petit Pierre^ 
'inhabited miserable hovels, where she eat the coarse food 
of the shepherds. But the troops were always upon her 
track, notwithstanding her ingenious evasions and the 
fidelity of the peasants ; she never had an entire night of 
sleep, and, when daylight came, danger and fatigue woke 
with her. 

To avoid this constant harassing she was induced to go to 
Nantes, where an asylum had long been prepared for her. 
To enter the city in safety was the next point deliberated 
upon by her friends ; but the Duchess closed all discussion 
by saying that she would enter it on foot in the disguise of 
a peasant-girl, accompanied only by Mademoiselle Eulalie 
de Kersabiec and M. de Menars. In consequence of this 
decision they started at six o'clock in the morning from the 
cottage in which they had slept. The Duchess and Made- 
moiselle de Kersabiec dressed alike as peasants, and M. de 
Menars as a farmer. They had five leagues to journey on 
foot. After travelling half an hour, the thick-nailed shoes 
and worsted stockings so hurt the feet of the Duchess, that 
she seated herself upon the bank, took them off, thrust them 



OF LOUIS THILIPPE. 



213 



into her large pockets, and continued the journey bare- 
footed. Having, however, remarked the peasant-girls who 
passed her on the road, she perceived that the whiteness of 
her ankles was likely to betray her ; she therefore went to 
the roadside, took some dark-colored earth, and, after rub- 
bing her ankles with it, resumed her walk. Strange con- 
trast this, from the body-guards resplendent with gold and 
silver, and the double carpet from Persia and Turkey which 
covered her bedchamber, to have for her escort an old man 
and a young girl, and walking barefoot on the sand and 
pebbles of the road 1 Her companions had tears in their 
eyes, but she had laughter and consolation on her lips. The 
country people had no suspicion that the little peasant- 
woman who tripped so lightly by them was any other than 
her dress indicated. 

At length Nantes appeared in sight, and the Duchess put 
on her shoes and stockings to enter the town. While trav- 
ersing the streets, somebody tapped the Duchess on the 
shoulder ; she started, and turned round. The person who 
acted thus familiarly was an old apple-woman, who had 
placed her basket of fruit upon the ground, and was unable 
by herself to replace it upon her head. *'My good girls," 
she said, addressing the Duchess and Mile, de Kersabiec, 
" help me, pray, to take up my basket, and I will give each 
of you an apple." The Duchess of Berri, with her com- 
panion, put the load upon the head of the old woman, who 
was going away without giving the promised reward, when 
the Duchess seized her by the arm and said, " Stop, mother, 
where's my apple?" The old woman having given it to 
her, she was eating it with an appetite sharpened by a walk 
of five leagues, when, raising her eyes, they fell upon a 
placard headed by these three words, in. very large letters, 
" State of Siege." This was the decree which outlawed 
the four departments of La Vendee, and set a price upon 
the Duchess's head. She approached the placard, and calm- 
ly read it through, while the alarm of her companions may 



214 RISE AND FALL 

be easily imagined. At length she resumed her walk, and 
in a few minutes reached the house at which she was ex- 
pected, where she took off her clothes, covered with dirt, 
which are now preserved there as relics. She soon after- 
wards proceeded to the residence of Miles. Deguigny, No. 
3, Rue Haute du Chateau, where an apartment was pre- 
pared for her, and within this apartment a place of conceal- 
ment. This was a recess within an angle, closed by the 
chimney of the innermost room. An iron plate formed the 
entrance to the hiding place, and was opened by a spring 
For five months the Duchess remained concealed, and, 
though the authorities were positively assured she was within 
the city, no clue to her discovery could be procured. 

An apostate Jew, of the name of Deutz, who had for- 
merly been employed by the Duchess at the recommendation 
of the Pope, was her betrayer. This wretch, whom General 
Dumoncourt says, he should never pass in the street without 
bestowing a horsewhipping upon him, did he not think that 
his horses would be degraded by being afterwards flogged 
with the same whip, succeeded in discovering her residence, 
and immediately acquainted the Governor of Nantes with 
it. The whole neighborhood was invested with military, 
and a detachment was observed to be in full march towards 
the house. The Duchess and her companions hastened to 
the recess ; the entrance to this was by no means easy, on 
account of its smallness. The Duchess insisted upon being 
the last to enter, and she was in the act of closing the ap- 
erture when the soldiers opened the door of the room. The 
party consisted of four persons, M. de Menars, M. Guibourg, 
Mile, Stylite Kersabiec, and the Duchess. Sentries were 
immediately posted in all the rooms. Drawers, cupboards 
and other pieces of furniture were unlocked or broken 
open. Sappers and masons sounded the floors and walls 
v/ith hatchets and hammers. The Duchess and her com- 
panions heard workmen hammering with all their might 
against the wall of the apartment contiguous to her recess, 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 215 

\ 

and some of these blows were struck with such force, that 
the fucritives feared the entire wall would fall and crush them 
to death. 

After a useless search, which lasted during the greater 
part of the night, the police officers, despairing of suc- 
cess retired, but left sentries throughout the house, and two 
gend'armes w^ere stationed in the very room containing 
the secret recess. The poor prisoners were, therefore, 
obliged to remain very still, though their situation must have 
been most painful in a small closet, in which the men could 
not stand upright even by placing their heads between the 
rafters. Moreover, the night was damp and cold, so that the 
party was almost chilled to death. But no one ventured to 
complain, as the Duchess did not. The cold was so piercing 
that the gend'armes stationed in the room could bear it no 
longer. One of them therefore went down stairs, and re- 
turned with some dried turf, with which he kindled a fire. 
This at first was a orreat comfort to the Duchess and her 
companions, who w'ere almost frozen ; but after a short time 
the wall became so hot that neither of them could bear 
to touch it, and the cast-iron plate was nearly red-hot. Al- 
most at the same time, though it was not dawn, the labors of 
the persons in search of the Duchess recommenced. The 
wall of the recess was struck so violently, that the prisoners 
thought that they were pulling dow^n the house and those 
adjoining, so that the Duchess thought, that, if she escaped 
the flames, she would be crushed to death by the falling 
ruins. During the whole of these trying moments neither 
her courage nor her gaiety forsook her. In the meantime 
the fire was not kept up, so that the wall gradually cooled. 
.M. de Menars also had pushed aside several slates, so that a 
little fresh air was admitted, and after a while, the workmen 
abandoned their labors in that part of the house. 

One of the gend'armes had been asleep throughout all the 
noise, and was now awakened by his companion, who wished 
to have a nap in his turn. The other had become chilled 



216 RISE AND FALL 

daring his sleep, and felt almost frozen wlienbe awoke. He, 
therefore, relit the fire ; and, as the turf did not burn fast 
enough, he threw in it some newspapers which were in the 
room. This produced a thicker smoke, and a greater heat, 
so that the prisoners were now in danger of suffocation. 
The plate, too, became heated to a terrific degree ; and the 
whole place was so hot, that they were obliged to place their 
mouths against the slates in order to exchange their burning 
breath for fresh air. • 

The Duchess, who was nearest the plate, suffered the 
most ; she, however, refused to change her place. The 
party was now in danger of being burned alive. The plate 
had become red-hot, and the lower part of the clothes of 
the four prisoners seemed likely to catch fire. The dress 
of the Duchess had already caught twice, and she had ex- 
tinguished it with her naked hands at the expense of two 
burns, of which she long after bore the marks. The heat 
had now become so great, that their lungs became greatly 
oppressed ; and to remain ten minutes longer in such a fur- 
nace would have endangered the life of her Royal High- 
ness. Her companions entreated her to go out, but she 
positively refused. Big tears of rage rolled from her eyes, 
which the burning air immediately dried upon her cheeks. 
Her dress again caught fire, and again she extinguished itj 
but in so doing, she accidentally pushed back the spring 
which closed the door of the recess, and the plate of the chim- 
ney opened a little. Mile, de Kersabiec immediately put 
forward her hand to close it, and burned herself dreadfully. 
The motion of the plate having made the turf roll back, the 
gend'arme perceived it, and fancied that the heat had driven 
some rats from a hiding-place. He woke his companion,, 
and they placed themselves, sword in hand, on each side of 
the chimney, ready to cut in two the first that should ap-' 
pear. 

At the same time the Duchess declared she could hold 
out no longer, and M. de Menars kicked open the plate. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 217 

The gend'armes started back in astonishment, and called 
out, ** Who's there?" "I," replied the Duchess; "I am 
the Duchess of Berri ; do not hurt me." The gend'armes 
immediately rushed to the fire-place and kicked the 
blazing fuel out of the chimney. The Duchess came forth 
the first, and as she passed, was obliged to place both her 
hands and feet upon the burning hearth ; her companions 
followed. It was now half past nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and the party had been shut up in their recess for six- 
teen hours without food. The Duchess was removed to the 
castle, and thence in November, 1832, to the citadel of 
Blaye, which was the scene of her dishonor. 

In narrating: the adventures of the Duchess of Berri, si- 
multaneous events at Paris have been passed over, which 
will now be chronicled. 



19 



218 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXVIII, 

One fine spring afternoon in 1832, the compiler of this 
work, then a lad, was in high glee with a large party of com- 
rades in the garden of the Tuileries, that finely-shaded play- 
ground, which, like a health-imparting lung, lies near the 
heart of populous Paris. Hoops were the favorite play- 
things just then, (for boys change their pastimes as ladies do 
their bonnets,) and as a score of them were bounding along 
before the adroit blows of the drivers, a dark-eyed Creole 
boy made a mis-step and fell, striking his head with great 
violence against one of the boxes in which are planted those 
large orange trees that shadow the walk and perfume the 
air. There he lay, poor fellow, apparently senseless, sur- 
rounded by his horror-stricken playmates, and a rapidly in- 
creasing crowd of nurses, each recommending something 
that should be done, but no one offering to do any thing. A 
stout, elderly bourgeois gentilhomme, who had the appear- 
ance of a wealthy merchant, elbowed his way through the 
crowd, and was soon efficiently engaged. Kneeling upon 
one knee, he raised the lad upon the other, chafed his tem- 
ples, sent a garde-du-jardin to the neighboring cafe for some 
water, and in five minutes he was walking towards the pal- 
ace, leading his restored patient, while shrill voices shouted 
" Vive le Roi ! " 

It was the Citizen King, and at that time he used fre- 
quently to walk through Paris, or ride out to Neuilly in an 
omnibus which he had built for his family use, bowing with 
great politeness to all who raised their hats as he passed. 
Yet at that very time he was preparing a demand on the 
Chamber for a civil list of 18,533,500 francs, " a yearly 
allowance thirty-seven times greater than was paid to Bona- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 219 

parte when first Consul, and a hundred and forty-eight times 
greater than that which in America is deemed sufficient for 
the President of the flourishing republic of the United 
States." * In addition, he claimed the four millions of francs' 
revenue from the crown forests, eleven magnificent palaces, 
and the sumptuous jewels and personal endowments of the 
fallen dynasty. The " Orleans appanage " of upwards of 
two millions of francs per annum, which it was intended 
should revert to the state if the younger branch ever as- 
cended to the throne, he insisted upon retaining. As to the 
edict of Henri IV. in 1566, the constitution of 1761, and 
the law of 1814, by which every prince called to the throne 
was at the same time called upon to unite his private prop- 
erty with that of the state, Louis Philippe had cunnningly 
evaded it by assigning his personal wealth to his children 
before his accession. 

Such items as that of 200,000 francs per annum for royal 
liveries, were not very palatable to the Republicans, who 
quivered with indignation when, in debate upon the bill, one 
of the Ministers said: "If luxury is l)anished from the 
palaces of the King, it will soon disappear from the houses 
of the svhjects.^' Odilon Barrot, followed by a hundred and 
four deputies, withdrew from the hall, and drew up a formal 
protest against a.word which they considered irreconcilable 
with the principle of the sovereignty of the nation. The 
arrest of several editors for attacks on the King^ soon showed 
that he considered them as subjects, and having proved to 
the discontented that their fighting would not undo what 
their fighting had done, he now bridled the spirit of wit, 
sharpened by hatred, which unmercifully libelled him. 

In April, 1832, came the cholera, a terrible scourge, 
which threw a deeper shade over the horror of its ravages 
by the mystery in which it stalked enveloped. It has 



* Louis Blanc's History of Ten Years. 



220 RISE AND FALL 

been officially ascertained that 18,402 persons died by it in 
189 days, and a deep gloom overspread the city. "Here," 
says Louis Blanc, "you saw choleric patients carried to 
the hospital on mattresses or litters : there you beheld 
persons engrossed with the thoughts of yesterday's or to- 
morrow's calamities, passing along in silence, pale as 
ghosts, and almost all clad in black. As there were not 
hearses enough, new ones were ordered, and seven hundred 
workmen were employed on them ; but the work did not 
speed fast enough ; the dead were waiting. The men were 
then asked to w^ork during the night, but they answered, 
* Our lives are more to us than your high pay.' Recourse 
was then had to artillery wagons for conveying the dead to 
burial ; but the rattling of the chains by night painfully dis- 
turbed the sleep of the city. These wagons, too, having 
no springs, the violent jolting burst the coffins, and it was 
necessary to employ huge spring carts, which were painted 
black, for collecting the dead. They rolled from door to 
door, calling at each house for corpses, and then set out 
again, showing, when the wind lifted their funeral drapery, 
bier upon bier, so heavy and ill-secured, that the passer-by 
dreaded to see them break and discharge their dismal freight 
upon the public road. Bat night was, above all, the most 
disastrous season ; for the most numerous ravages of the 
disease took place, commonly, between midnight and two 
o'clock. The remains of fires, lighted in the faint hope of 
purifying the atmosphere, the lanterns burning at the doors 
of the offices of aid, the anxious haste of men hurrying in 
the darkness on errands too well known, the stifled cries in 
the interior of the houses, which the silence of night made 
audible in the lonely streets, — all this produced an awful 
and an appalling effect." 

The royal family remained in their doomed metropolis 
until the epidemic had subsided, and the Duke of Orleans 
visited the hospitals, administering comfort and succor. 
Casirair Perier, who accompanied him, sickened and died, 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 221 

the last independent statesman who held power under Louis 
Philippe. Taking pattern from Louis XIV. who cut and 
clipped his minister's ideas just as Le Notre, his celebrated 
gardener, clipped and cut the trees of Versailles, the Citizen 
King repeated " L'Etat c'est moi ! " and autocratically un- 
dertook to carry out his views by means of channels called 
ministerial offices. All the foreign ambassadors were re- 
quired to send him a duplicate copy of their reports to 
the foreign office. He presided at every ministerial council, 
and no minister could sign any paper of importance without 
his concurrence, while his power ended the day he refused 
to be a mere instrument of the King's family and personal 
aggrandizement. The Cabinet thus became little more than 
an agency for the "head of the house" in the Tuileries, 
who vras not to be disturbed by changes in the policy of the 
firm. Each partner had only to keep things as they were 
in his ministerial department, and be ready to defend any 
questionable stroke of trade on the part of his principal, 
and he might waste the capital, and mortgage the resources 
of the concern, provided a due share of the loans and 
credits went into the royal strong box, or was paid to the 
account of " the family," 

The 5th and 6th of June were marked by a desperate 
insurrection in Paris, which commenced at the funeral of 
General Lamarque. Louis Philippe declared the city to be 
in a state of siege, and the insurgents were put down by the 
immense force brought against them, which included 30,000 
regular troops, 50,000 National Guards, and a formidable 
train of artillery. During the struggle, a deputation from 
the Chamber of Deputies repaired to the palace, where 
Odilon Barrot addressed Louis Philippe in their name. He 
ended with entreating the King to stop the effiision of blood 
which was yet flowing, and to silence the cannon, the roar 
of which was then resounding even in his royal residence ; 
to be merciful to the vanquished, and to prevent fresh dis- 
19* 



222 RISE AND FALL 

urbances, by a prompt and cordial return to the principles 
upon which the revolution had established the dynasty. 

Louis Philippe very coolly answered, that, being attacked 
by his enemies, he was justified in defending himself; that 
it was high time to curb revolt, and that he employed can- 
non only to fut it down the quicker ; that as to the pre- 
tended engagements at the Hotel de Ville, and those repub- 
lican institutions about which the opposition made so much 
noise, he did not know what all that meant; that he had 
more than fulfilled the promises he had made, and had given 
France as many and more republican institutions than he 
had promised her ; that the programme of the Hotel de 
Ville had never existed except in the brain of M. Lafaj^ette, 
whose incessant demands on that head were evidently the 
effect of some mistake ; that as to the system he pursued, it 
was the effect of his own convictions, the result of his own 
reflections, and the expression of his notions of policy and 
government ; that he, Louis Philippe, had consented to take 
the crown only on the conditions indicated by the develop- 
ment of that system, and from which he would not deviate, 
were Tie even drayed in a mortar. 

In August, the St. Simonian community at Menilmontant 
was broken up by law, and Fourierism came into notice, 
*' expanding into all conceivable forms, from the most rank 
and thoroughgoing communism, to the mildest advocacy of 
the extention of the co-operative principle. Upon the whole, 
the result of the labors of Saint Simon and Fourier may 
be summed up in this, that their systems deposited in the mind 
of the French nation two great ideas, which were not there 
before — the^rs^, that European society was approaching a 
crisis, the peculiarity of which, as compared with former 
ones, would consist in this, that it would be an industrial 
revolution — in other words, a revolution by which not only 
would industrial interests come to predominate in politics, 
but the industrial mind itself would be admitted to the mas- 
tery in the administration ; the second, that the instrument 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 223 

in this change, or at least its accompaniment, would be an 
organization of the laboring classes into compact bodies, on 
the principle of co-operation and common responsibility. 
The first of these ideas is more Saint Simonian ; it is the 
summary expression of Saint Simon's two fundamental prin- 
ciples, ' L^ Amelioration,^ &c., and * A Chacun,^ &c. The 
other is more peculiarly Fourierist, involving as it does 
all that is general, and possibly all that is valuable, in Fou- 
rier's bewildering system of Phalanxes." * 

Both of these speculative doctrines were taken up and 
adopted as fundamental principles by the Republican party, 
who deserted politics for the science of reconstructing 
society on entirely new bases. Particular forms of govern- 
ment or constitution were completely subordinated to con- 
siderations regulating the social relations of citizens, and it 
seemed assumed in the arguments, that when such relations 
could be placed on a proper footing, good government would 
follow naturally as a matter of course. 

On the 15th of November, a French army entered Belgium 
and invested Antwerp, which the King of Holland had re- 
fused to evacuate. Marshal Gerard commanded, accompanied 
by the Dukes of Orleans and of Nemours, who displayed 
great gallantry during the long siege ; and the ruined condi- 
tion of the citadel when it capitulated, indicated all the skill 
of the French engineers and the resolute courage of the 
Dutch garrison. It was now decided that Prince Leopold 
should be sustained by France and England on the Belgian 
throne. 

The opening of the Chambers was fixed for the 19th of 
November, and never, at that ungenial period of the year, 
did a finer day shine out of the heavens. The National 
Guards and the picturesque population of Paris mustered to 
see the procession in their gayest costumes, yet in their 
midst stood a would-be regicide, bent on a murderous at- 

* The North British Review for May, 1848. 



224 RISE AND FALL 

tempt that, ere the close of that fair, that fine, that deceitful 
day, might have deluged the streets of the capital with blood, 
and heralded scenes of horror throughout the whole country. 
He undoubtedly supposed that when he had struck the first 
fatal blow, the factious masses of all parties would rush into 
open revolt, and was constantly surrounded by about thirty 
individuals, w^ho, to avert suspicion, shouted " Vive le Roi ! " 
In order to place himself in the foremost rank of the specta- 
tors, as Louis Philippe was passing, the assassin rudely pushed 
back a young female recently arrived at Paris, and stationed 
himself behind a soldier and a corporal of the line. The 
young woman was obliged to stand on tiptoe, and to look 
over the assassin's shoulder to see the King. Suddenly she 
perceived him stretch out his arm with a pistol, which was 
aimed at the King, and seizing his hand, she diverted his aim. 
Louis Philippe displayed his usual sang froid, declared he 
was not hurt, and desired that the circumstance should re- 
main unnoticed to the Chambers, and especially to the 
dueen, till after he had delivered the royal speech, which 
he accomplished with firmness, but not without emouon, 
amidst much applause. The audacity of this infamous at- 
tempt on the King's life excited the strongest feeling of 
indignation among the assembled crowds, and was favorable 
for the government in the Chamber of Deputies, as many of 
the members moderated their opposition, pro tempore, to 
prove their abhorrence of so detestable a crime. The cul- 
prit escaped, so that his name is wanting to head that dark 
catalogue of gloomy and revengeful natures, which brooded 
over public wrongs or fancied private injuries, until they 
worked themselves into that fiendish fanaticism which nerves 
the arm of the regicide, who, by destroying the keystone of 
the political government, hopes to overthow the whole edi- 
fice. 

" The arrow that flieth by night " is, in the unseen terror 
it awakens, a type of the fear that casts its shadow on the 
brightest of earthly thrones, and we find traces of the crime 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 225 

and its terrors in every chapter of regal history — in the 
present and past, in the lives of great usurpers as well as 
in those of legitimate kings. Shakspeare's deposed sove- 
reign speaks of " graves, worms and epitaphs ; " and the 
train of thought in which his Richard II. indulges may be 
taken as a short, but eloquent comment on what has too 
often been the doom of monarchs : 

" Some sleeping killed. 
All murdered ! for within the golden crown 
That rounds the hollow temples of a king, 
Death keeps his court ; and there the antic sits, 
Mocking his state, and grinning at his pomp, 
Allowing him a breath, a little scene 
To monarchise, be feared, and kill with looks — 
Then comes at last " — 

Yet there is a divinity that " doth hedge a king," and 
Louis Philippe has apparently possessed an immunity from 
the worst consequences of that time and chance, which, 
says the Psalmist, happen to all. After surviving unharmed 
political convulsion, battle, proscription, and exile, in his 
youth and manhood, h& again and again escaped from re- 
peated and desperate attacks on his life when King in his 
old age, in that land where Henry IV. and the Dauphin fell 
at the first blow, and Napoleon so quailed before regicide, 
that it hurried him into one of his greatest crimes, the exe- 
cution of the Duke of Enghien. 



226 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

On the 9th of May, 1833, a scene in the drama of French 
history was acted in the citadel of Blaye, on the banks of 
the Gironde, which blasted the hopes of the legitimate 
party, as it did the character of their champion. The reg- 
ister of births had been brought into the dreary prison, and 
on it was inscribed, with due formality, ''a female child, 
the daughter of the Duchess of Berri, and of Count Hector 
Luchesi Palli." As this proof of her infidelity to the mem- 
ory of her husband deprived her of political influence, the 
Duchess was now permitted to return to Italy, loaded with 
the execrations of her former adherents, who had main- 
tained her innocence. Their editors went so far as to chal- 
lenge the liberal editors en masse, who had thrown out 
hints of her situation. The acceptance of this wholesale 
challenge, shows the chivalric spirit of the middle ages, and 
in the duels which ensued, several were severely, though 
not mortally wounded. 

" We send you a first list of twelve persons. We demand, 
not twelve simultaneous duels, but twelve successive duels, 
at times and places on which we shall easily agree. No 
excuses, no pretexts, which would not save you from the 
disgrace of cowardice, nor, above all, from the conse- 
quences which ensue from it. Henceforth there is war, 
man to man, between your party and ours ; no truce till one 
of the two shall have given way to the other." 

It would require a volume to describe the conflicts which 
took place in 1832, 1833, and 1834, in the streets of Paris, 
Lyons, St. Etienne, Grenoble, Marseilles, Toulouse, Tou- 
lon, Metz, and other places, between Louis Philippe's sup- 
porters, and the discontented factions who had nothing to 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 227 

lose, but every thing to gain. The Societe des Droits 
de V Homme, published Robespierre's *' Declaration of the 
Rights of Man," as a rallying creed, and tranquillity was 
only restored by placing the large cities under martial law 
in 1834, when the army 'was increased to 360,000 foot, and 
65,000 horse. 

The centre of all these disturbances was Paris, and Louis 
Philippe determined to surround it with a circle of en- 
trenchments and detached forts, which would, if properly 
manned, insure its subjugation. To carry out this project, 
he used Monsieur Thiers,* a man of adventurous imagina- 
tion and undisciplined will, to whom repose seemed synony- 
mous with decay, and who found a more congenial excite- 
ment in the bare description of Napoleon's victories than 
in planning a more peaceful policy for his country. " Fortify 
my capital," said his cunning sovereign, " and then we can 
declare war," and Thiers, perfectly blinded, presented a bill 
to the Chamber of Deputies in 1833, providing for a series 
of works, whose guns could command every house in Paris, 
except the royal palace. Dazzled by a hope of coming 
war, the Republicans themselves supplied the King with 
instruments of tyranny and means of dictatorship! 

In April, 1835, there were violent debates in the Chamber 
of Deputies, on the adoption of a treaty made with the 
United States in 1831, which General Jackson had insisted 
upon in menacing terms, not very welcome to the ears of 
a people whose fathers had established American indepen- 
dence. Whether Louis Philippe had purchased a large 
share of the claim or not, will never probably be known, 
but it is stated, on the authority of Lafayette, that when the 
treaty was first signed, the monarch said among his cour- 
tiers, " I will cut it down to fifteen millions." The market 
value of the claims was reduced by the long delay and 

* Thiers. Note M. 



228 RISE AND FALL 

rumors of this determination on the part of the King — a 
large portion of them were purchased by stock-brokers for 
unknown parties — and then the payment of the whole 
twenty-five millions so uncourteously demanded, was voted 
by 289 voices against 137. 

Lafayette boldly opposed the monarchical schemes which 
were gradually enslaving France, and was a prominent 
member of the *' Association for the Liberty of the Press," 
which his powerful influence sheltered from persecution. 
" Death, however," says Louis Blanc, " soon delivered the 
executive from the apprehension with which it constantly 
viewed him, who, on the '31st of July, 1830, gave Louis 
Philippe, on the steps of the Hotel-de-Ville, the investiture 
of royalty. On the 20th of May, 1834, Lafayette, breathed 
his last sigh. His dying moments were filled with bitter- 
ness; the ingratitude with which his services had been 
repaid, had been the slow poison of his old age ; and words 
of malediction not unnaturally marked his parting adieus. 
His funeral was rendered truly magnificent, by mourning 
hearts, and tearful, downcast eyes. In M. de Lafayette the 
republican party lost that which had been almost more use- 
ful to it than even an active chief — a name." 

On a bright morning in July, as Louis Philippe was 
reviewing the National Guard, surrounded by his sons, and 
as gallant a staff as ever grouped around a monarch, Fieschi's 
" infernal machine " scattered death and destruction into 
the royal cortege. The bullets respected Louis Philippe 
as the arrows did Southey's Roderic : — 

" they passed him to the right and left, 

And harmed him not." 

But old soldiers, who had survived many battles, young men 
in the prime of life, and a girl who had seen but fourteen 
summers, were stretched in death beside him. "I am not 
wounded," said the King, while large tears rolled down his 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 229 

cheeks as he gazed on the expiring form of Marshal Mor- 
tier ; but not a moment was to be lost. *' My mother ! " said 
the young Duke of Orleans. The King comprehended his 
meaning, and despatched an orderly officer to the palace. 
** March!" cried the King; and on his review proceeded. 
If it had not done so — if the King had hesitated — if he 
had appeared paralyzed — if the review had been broken 
up, confusion would have followed ; some tens of thousands 
of miscreants, who had all prepared themselves to profit by 
anticipated disorder, would have pillaged Paris, overthrown 
the government, and involved France in war and anarchy. 
The cool, calm, dignified, manly conduct of Louis Philippe 
in that moment of real danger and alarm won for him the 
golden opinions of all moderate men of all parties, and 
saved France from years of civil war. Fieschi and two 
accomplices were beheaded ; but their punishment did not 
deter Alibaud from attempting to commit the crime they 
had attempted, ere the expiration of a twelvemonth. 

The war party, which Louis Philippe had used as one 
of his stepping-stones to the throne, found themselves com- 
pletely disappointed so far as a war of Propagandism was 
concerned, but by pursuing the ill-starred conquest of Al- 
geria, the King provided an outlet for that military spirit 
which is so dominant in French character. Each succes- 
sive year of his reign was marked by its panic, its coup de 
main, its alerte, its razzia, or its victory, to awaken the 
annual sound of that martial chord of which each son of 
Gaul so loves to feel the vibration, just as an Italian has a 
national passion for a new opera, or a Spaniard for a bull 
fight. 

Algeria, it may be well to state, was taken by order of 
Charles X., in 1820, to satisfy " the injured honor of France," 
whose consul had received a slap on the cheek from the 
Dey, in a moment of passion. It was useful to Louis Phi- 
lippe in catering for the sanguinary thirst of the war party, 
or in disposing of a troublesome spirit in the army, but bore 
20 



230 RISE AND FALL 

a striking resemblance to those fatal bequests with which, 
in Eastern romance, the murdered prince or baffled magi- 
cian inflicts a posthumous vengeance on his successful foe. 
The throne is left empty for the conqueror, and the royal 
corse cast out for a living sepulchre — but there still arises 
ex ossihus nltor, and the palace is tenanted in dire partner- 
ship with the names of an extinct dynasty, which hamper 
the victory with some impossible condition. Such, in 
Algeria, was the slow and secret avengement of that proud 
race of Bourbons, which, after centuries of power and 
greatness, fell a victim to cunning treachery. Charles X. 
slowly retired from his capital and his kingdom, and silently 
appealed to the potentates who had once before reversed a 
like disaster, but he found no refuge but in historical pal- 
aces, and he met with no consolation, save the solemn an- 
nouncement that his reign had ceased. Yet had revenge 
been in his heart, he had left a sting behind him, deeper, 
more gangrenous and exhausting than the whole legitimacy 
of Europe could have inflicted. A campaign against all the 
enemies of the empire did not cost more life and more 
treasure than were annually expended in the African con- 
test, which Charles X. had just achieved in time to relin- 
quish with his throne. 

On the morning of November 6, 1836, the deposed King 
of France breathed his last at Goritz, in the mountains of 
Slyria, aged seventy-nine, after wandering in exile for six 
long years, to expiate the evils he had inflicted upon France, 
by the advice of bad men, and the ingratitude which had 
requited his kindness to his relative, Louis Philippe. These 
were Charles X.'s dying words : '' I forgive, from my heart, 
those who have made themselves my enemies, and, more 
particularly, those who have been led away by the advice of 
others. I have forgiven them for a long time before God. 
To my grandson will devolve the happiness and glory of 
pardoning thembefore men." 

From the time that Louis Philippe had married his eldest 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 231 

daughter to the King of the Belgians, he was seeking a 
suitable alliance for the Duke of Orleans, heir to the throne. 
Sent to visit the courts of Europe, the Duke became inter- 
ested in the Princess Theresa, daughter of the Arch-Duke 
Charles of Austria, but Prince Metternich would not listen 
to what he considered a misalliance. The fate of Marie 
Antoinette and the dethronement of Marie Louise, were 
well remembered at Vienna, and when the matter was men- 
tioned to the mother of the Princess, she merely remarked : 
" It is quite out of the question for my daughter to be sub- 
jected to ride in a carriage, which, the chances are, will be 
pierced with bullets on its way." 

Humiliated, and eagrer to heal the wound thus inflicted 
upon his pride, the Duke now sought a bride at the minor 
courts, and made the fortunate selection of the Duchess 
Helena of Mecklinburg-Schwerin, a Protestant, of such 
great worth, that a clergyman who was conversant with her 
whole life said : " Es war ein himmlisches Gemuth,'^ — 
it was a heavenly character. The wedding was celebrated 
at Fontainbleau on the 30th of May, 1836, and the public 
festivities were on a scale of unusual magnificence. The 
Palace of Versailles was thrown open, its galleries filled 
with sculptured and painted memorials of the history of 
France — a vast monument raised by art. An exhibition 
of fireworks was the scene of a frightful disaster which 
clouded the popular rejoicing, for by a fatal pressure as 
the crowd dispersed, numbers were thrown under foot, 
trampled on, and smothered. Old people recalled the 
marriage of Marie Antoinette when there were great re- 
joicings, and numbers stifled to death ! 

The Court was now organized with the usual number of 
attendant officers, and many of the usages of the ancien 
regime, yet there was one member of the royal family who 
seized every opportunity to escape from the ceremonious 
saloons to a small studio, where she gave the impress of her 
living genius to inanimate marble. It was the Princess 



232 RISE AND FALL 

Marie, who was born in 1813, and brought up by her 
mother's side in that comparative seclusion to which the 
habits of France destine its unmarried women. When very 
young, she manifested an extraordinary talent for design ; 
but her attention to sculpture was first excited by a bust of 
Napoleon, which was brought to her father by a young 
sailor, and which she immediately placed in her own study. 
It would require a catalogue raisonne to note the various 
designs, historical and domestic, which the Princess pro- 
duced from time to time. She would take up a volume of 
Goethe, Shakspeare, Schiller, or Sir Walter Scott, and 
group from it in a way that left no doubt of the power she 
possessed of presenting to the eye, in a most perfect and 
extraordinary manner, the poet's dream, or the historian's 
story. Nor was hers a young lady's art, although it combined 
a delicacy and power which showed how completely her 
mind was imbued with all the grace and loveliness that 
soften the heart in woman. 

In the great work which the Princess presented to the 
Versailles Gallery, her " Joan of Arc," there is a blending 
of these qualities with those of a far higher character. She 
has not depicted the heroine, whose death is a foul blot on 
the annals of English history, as a bold, brave woman, but 
as a maid urged by a great and virtuous impulse to acts of 
noble daring, for that pure and holy purpose, the liberty of 
her country. Her eyes are bent on the ground, her arms 
folded over her bosom ; she strives, as it were, to shield 
herself behind the consecrated sword of France ; and but 
for the firmness with which she stands, the figure would 
want strenorth. You see that though her heart is subdued 
before God, she fears no other power. She is partly clad in 
armor, but nothing that distinguishes the woman is lost; 
her head and hands are uncovered ; the helmet and the 
gauntlet are by her side. The original work is the size of 
life ; it is in white marble, sculptured by the hand, as well 
as conceived by the mind, of the accomplished Princess. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 233 

it Wan the maiden was ; 

Of saintly paleness ; and there seemed to dwell 
In the strong beauties of her countenance 
Something that was not earthly " 

This second '' inspired Maid of Orleans" married Prince 
Alexander of Wirtemburg, from whom she was soon sum- 
moned by the stern leveller, Death, — an afflicting event 
which came home to every domestic hearth and heart in 
France. Fathers, forgetful of all political feeling, saw Louis 
Philippe standing beside the grave of his daughter, and 
buried all animosity there, only remembering the moral and 
elevated example he had set to the world as a husband and 
a parent. Mothers, familiar with the talents and virtues 
of the deceased Princess, drew, with the unerring instinct 
of a mother's heart, their own treasures more closely to 
their bosoms, and shed tears of sympathy with the bereaved 
dueen, who, when she learned her daughter's death, had 
touchingly exclaimed : 

" Oh God ! thou hast an angel more, and I 
A daughter less ! " 



20^ 



234 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXX. 

In 1840, after ten years of revolutionary struggle, France 
was comparatively quiet, -and Louis Philippe congratulated 
himself that his administration had attained that perma- 
nence and tranquillity for which he had so unceasingly 
labored. The young Bourbon prince was in Italy, with 
such faint hopes of ever regaining the throne of his ances- 
tors, that the old noblesse, who so long avoided all contact 
with the Court of the Citizen King, had gradually and 
silently allowed their younger sons to slide into the ranks of 
the army, and to re-appear in public life. Louis Bonaparte's 
fool -hardiness had damped the enthusiasm of the Emperor's 
devoted admirers, whose hearts beat with joy at any prospect 
of seeing a relative of their imperial idol on the throne, 
but whose reason revolted against mad attempts to revolu- 
tionize France by the unbacked magic of a name. Besides, 
Louis Philippe had brought the remains of Napoleon to the 
spot he had chosen in his last moments, " on the banks of 
the Seine." The Republicans had been defeated in a last 
deadly struggle, singing the Marseillaise as their dirge, and 
digging their graves behind barricades — while the same 
determined use of force which annihilated their final con- 
spiracy checked the bold virulence of the opposition 
presses. The Church had rallied around the throne which 
so liberally endowed it, the country was apparently pros- 
perous, and the embellishment of the cities advanced with 
a rapidity unknown even to the best ages of the French 
monarchy. 

Having thus consolidated his government, and, by judi- 
ciously fostering the " war spirit," made the Parisians 
blindly enchain themselves with a line of Bastilles, Louis 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 235 

Philippe shook off Monsieur Thiers and his liberal friends, 
and calling Monsieur Guizot into his councils, applied, with 
unflinching courage and with blind presumption, that theory 
of absolute power, based on constitutional laws, which was 
finally trampled under foot by his outraged people. " Shut 
up in his palace, like the veiled prophet of Khorassan, and 
entrenched in military power, with a haughty ministry, 
pursuing an unbending course of policy, he seemed rather 
a despot of the old school — a Bourbon of the last century 
— than a Citizen King, crowned at the barricades. A great 
change had indeed come over the monarch ; the possession 
of power had seduced his heart and turned his head ; and 
forgetting his pledges, and blind to his true interest, he was 
busy in building up a dynasty that should hand down his 
name and fame to posterity." * 

Monsieur Guizot, a man of great learning and eloquence, 
proved himself to be no statesman or politician, and although 
he reigned supreme in the Chamber, captivating, enchain- 
ing and domineering over his fellow deputies, there were 
scores of Frenchmen who surpassed him in tact, in far- 
sightedness, and, above all, in conciliation. His entire 
character and style partook more of the Genevese school in 
which he was educated, than of the larger, freer, more 
social, and more catholic, (the word is used in a moral, 
not in a religious sense,) manner of France. He was 
grave, he was proud, he was severe, he was dictatorial, he 
was pedantical ; and although these qualities or accidents 
were part of the nature of the man, incidents of his char- 
acter, in keeping with his inner life and conduct, they 
were not the attributes most likely to captivate a gay, 
supple, and generous people. However copious and fertile 
he may have been in argument, however powerful his pen, 
his austerity and dogmatism rendered his sway irksome to 
his adherents ; while the gigantic proportions of his ambi- 

* Hon. S. G. Goodrich. 



236 RISE AND FALL 

tion, the withering scorn of his eloquence, the inaccessible 
height of his disdain, inspired his antagonists and the 
people generally with an inconceivable amount of personal 
hatred. 

The one single merit that can be ascribed to Monsieur 
Guizot as a minister, is, that he restrained a people from 
war who are intoxicated with the mere name of glory, and 
think that the existence of a great nation should be forever 
rushing towards a catastrophe, like the hurried plot of a 
melo-drama. But this merit, says an English writer, belongs 
not chiefly, nor yet in the greatest degree to him, for during 
his sway, the whole of Europe was disposed to be peaceable, 
and with Great Britain the desire to be so was a predomi- 
nant passion. Peace was a necessity to Louis Philippe and 
his family policy ; but, could he have gained his ends 
better by war, he would have as little scrupled to have 
sacrificed the lives of a million of Frenchmen as Napoleon 
himself " La Paix partout, la Paix toujours," was Guizot's 
creed, but in maintaining it, he too often lost sight of the 
dignity and honor of his country. It has been said that it 
does not become a great, a chivalrous, and gallant nation 
like France, to be tricky, dishonest, or Jesuitical ; yet 
tricky, dishonest, and Jesuitical that great and civilized 
country appeared, while Monsieur Guizot was Minister of 
Foreign Affairs. 

The fact is, Guizot was the Minister of the bourgeoisie, 
or middle classes, whose distinguishing traits are economy 
and the absence of fanaticism. But there is also a want of 
elevation, of depth, and of high tone in many of their sen- 
timents and opinions. They do not loathe intrigue, nor 
abhor trickiness, where a national object is to be gained, 
and, therefore, many of them who had no love for Monsieur 
Guizot's person, approved of his tortuous diplomatic policy. 
By his conduct, both abroad and at home, M. Guizot has 
done too much, far too much, to promote that egotism, 
selfishness, and love of material enjoyment, which the ' 




FRANCIS ANDREW GUIZOT 



OF LOUIS PHIIJPPE. 237 

French bourgeoisie of our day have felt as a passion, and 
worshipped as a virtue. To hear those men talk, and to 
see them act, one would think the height of human felicity 
consisted in having a dinde truffee or a supreme de volaiUe 
for dinner, and 100,000f. de rente, no matter how obtained. 
Rem, quocumgue modo, rem, is their mercenary motto ; and 
provided the money be produced, they will, like the Roman 
emperor, never smell the coin to discover the inodorous 
source from which it has been produced. On such a basis 
of selfishness as this a superstructure of freedom was 
never yet erected, for liberty is not the product of such a 
soil. It is a wild flower, spontaneously springing up, and 
needs neither the muck of selfishness nor corruption to 
stimulate it into mushroom maturity.* 

The Duke of Orleans was universally popular, often 
opposing the subtle schemes of his father, and conciliating 
the Liberals by his repudiation of all the affectation of 
liberty and progress which was used at Court to conceal 
servility, oppression, and fraud. General Cass described 
him as a well made young man, with a symmetrical, grace- 
ful figure, a remarkably handsome countenance, and some- 
thing very prepossessing in his whole appearance. In 
conversation he was ready and unassuming, evincing the 
general knowledge of a well educated man of the world. 
Having no direct constitutional position with reference to 
the administration of the government, he evidently kept 
himself aside from the course of its operations, and bid fair 
to become the most popular monarch that had ruled France 
since Henri Quatre. It was his hope to unite tradition 
with progress, and to create from the monarchy of the 
Fleurs-de-lis, and from the empire of the sword, and from 
the noble reason of the Chambers, and from the all-powerful 
press, a new system, the youth and freshness of which 
would be blended with the majesty of the past. 

* British Quarterly Review. 



238 ' RISE AND FALL 

The Duke had two sons, Louis Philippe, Count of Paris, 
born August 24, 1838, and Robert Philippe, Duke of 
Chartres, born in 1840. Their mother, (said by the Rev. 
Dr. Baird to be the most accomplished woman in France,) 
paid the strictest attention to their education, and, although 
a Protestant, conducted herself with such exemplary pro- 
priety, that all tongues were loud in her praise. General 
Cass mentions her acquaintance with American literature, 
and says, that when on one occasion she expressed a wish 
to read the novels of Cooper, he asked her permission to 
lend them. They were returned shortly after, with a note 
written by a lady of the Court in the name of the Duchess, 
expressive of her high gratification at their perusal. 

One bright morning in July, 1842, the Duke went into 
the nursery at Neuilly, to take leave of his wife and 
children, before he set out to attend a review. The scene 
has been portrayed by an eminent French artist, and one 
cannot imagine a more perfect picture of conjugal felicity, 
that the happy couple, side by side on a sofa, while the 
children, seated on their father's knees, played with the 
trappings of his glittering uniform. " Do not go with the 
soldiers, papa," lisped the young Count of Paris, as the 
Duke reluctantly rose to leave, *' stay with us here and we 
will have such a good time." " 1 must .go, my dear boy, 
but to-morrow we will have a romp together — adieu." In 
an hour the sorrow-stricken Duchess was summoned to a 
dirty back shop, where they had carried the Duke, who had 
attempted to leap from his carriage, thinking the horses were 
running away. The step was not a foot above the ground, 
yet he fell with such violence, that in a hour his bereaved 
family, who had hastened to his bed-side, saw that there 
was no hope. Whatever was the violence of his sufferings, 
he gave them no utterance, and when the last moment 
arrived, his dissolution was so calm and serene, that not a 
sigh revealed the flight of the emancipated spirit. 

The death of the Duke of Orleans was not only a 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE, 239 

political loss to France, but to society; for, taken all in all, 
a more amiable husband, a better-hearted man, or a more 
exemplary citizen, never trod the streets of Paris. Profes- 
sionally, as a soldier, he was not only admired, but almost 
adored by the army, of which he was considered the com- 
rade and protector. As an exalted member of society, he 
was always the liberal patron of charity and the feeling 
friend of humanity. Of the arts and sciences he was 
the most generous and ardent encourager. Open, generous, 
and frank — a steady friend and most attached master — a 
candid and forgiving adversary whenever assailed — the 
memory of Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, received not only 
the respect, but the admiration of his countrymen. His 
fame 

" Smells sweet, and blossoms in the dust." 



240 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Louis Philippe was deeply afflicted by the loss of his 
first-born, and his pride seemed for the moment humbled ; 
but the affairs of a kingdom are too pressing to admit of a 
sovereign's yielding, for however brief a time, to the sympa- 
thies of nature. A Regency law was passed, and the eldest 
surviving Prince, the Duke of Nemours, was chosen to 
wield the sceptre vicariously in case of his father's death, 
as his great ancestor, the Regent d'Orleans, did in the 
minority of a child who bore the same relationship to Louis 
XIV. as the Count of Paris did to Louis Philippe. The 
Duke refused, however, to accept the title of Duke of 
Orleans, not wishing to be compared with his lamented and 
popular brother, and also to avoid a parallel, should he be 
called to the throne, with that most dissolute prince, the 
Regent d'Orleans, who maintained his power by the most 
unblushing corruption. The Duke had been married some 
years previous to the Duchess Victoria Augusta, of the 
Kohary-Coburg family, a cousin of Prince Albert, and had 
two sons. He was proud, overbearing, and unyielding in 
his conduct, haughty in his demeanor, an unfaithful hus- 
band, and a man generally disliked, as possessing all the 
hereditary faults of the Bourbon race. 

Louis Philippe had ever regarded with longing eyes the 
colossal fortunes of the young dueen of Spain and her 
sister, who had passed several years at Paris during the 
disorrace of their mother, dueen Christina. She was a rela- 
tive of Q,ueen Adelaide, and although her life is replete with 
adventures of the most piquant, as well as lamentable char- 
acter, the wily King loaded her with kindness, even receiving 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 241 

her favorite* paramour, Munoz, at Court. When she re- 
turned to Madrid, and her eldest daughter Isabella ascended 
the throne of Spain, a rare opportunity offered itself for 
securing the young dueen's dowry to the Orleans coffers, 
and at the same time re-establishing that political linking 
of Spain to France, which England attempted to resist, 
but ineffectually, in the war of succession at the begin- 
ning of the last century, and which she again resisted, 
but with better success, by the victories of the Dake of 
Wellington in the early part of the present century. Count 
Bresson, a cunning diplomatist, who had risen high in Louis 
Philippe's favor, was sent to Madrid, and the King himself 
undertook to conciliate England by cajoling her young 
Q,ueen. 

Acting by well paid discreet agents upon Queen Victoria's 
mind, she suddenly declared her intention of sitting for a 
while on her "throne of waters," to be for a time England's 
sailor-queen, and win all the fascinating prestige of such an 
association with the national feelings of her subjects. The 
opposition of the Duke of Wellington and others of her 
Privy Council, only added to her desires to sail under 

" The flag that braved a thousand years 
The battle and the breeze." 

And although able jurists said that it was against the prin- 
ciples of the British Constitution that her Majesty should 
leave her dominions, she, with a characteristic womanly 
determination, decided to take a marine excursion. No 
sooner was this known at Paris, than Louis Philippe con- 
tinued his Machiavellian plot by sending over two of his 
sons to invite her to his seashore palace — the picturesque 
Chateau d'Eu. Frankly and pleasurably her Majesty ac- 
cepted the invitation ; but at the very moment the visit was 
the topic of conversation among all classes in both nations, 
when royalty on both sides of the channel was making 
preparations for receiving or being received, the whole 
21 



242 



RISE AND FALL 



current of public feeling was nearly turned by one of those 
accidents to which all are liable, and from which royalty 
has no exception. 

A few days before Queen Victoria's arrival, Louis Phi- 
lippe and dueen Amelia, the Queen of the Belgians, the 
Duchess of Orleans and the Count of Paris, went to ride in 
a char-d-hanc, (a large open carriage hung round with 
curtains,) drawn by six horses. Passing by the seashore, 
over a bridge at the head of a canal, the horses took fright 
at the noise of the water rushing into the lock. One of the 
leaders bounded forward, and breaking the slight chain 
placed as a protection to foot passengers, fell into the canal, 
dragging after him two of the other horses, whose weight 
fortunately caused the harness which connected them with 
the carriage to break. The postilion who rode the wheel 
horse, with much presence of mind and great physical 
strength, turned his horses so as to bring the pole of the 
carriage against one of the posts at the entrance of the 
bridge, and thus stopped its further progress. The King 
himself acted with great presence of mind ; he held the 
young Count of Paris in his arms, and refused to leave the 
carriage till every member of his family was placed in safety 
on terra Jirma, but the Queen wept bitterly. She, doubt- 
less, thought of the similarity of the occurrence to that 
fatal event which deprived France of the Duke of Orleans, 
and gave to her infant grandson the reversion of a sceptre 
requiring the firm hand and strong grasp of manhood. It 
was an impressive lesson, showing how near life, in its most 
imposing conditions, is to the brink of the grave, and at 
how little we should rate the splendor that a falling beam 
may crush. Here were two great nations watching their 
respective monarchs, anticipating a meeting between them, 
and feeling a generous pleasure at the royal interchange of 
good offices and attentions. That death had not stepped 
between them with a stern arrest, that the throne of 
France was not made vacant, the stability of a dynasty 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



243 



shaken, and the peace of Earope endangered, seems to 
have been dependent on a mere chance — the stoutness of 
a leather thong, or the strength of a postilion's arm ! 

The Chateau d'En was the family seat of Louis Philippe's 
mother, from whom he inherited it, and has those high 
roofs, pinnacles, enormous chimneys, and other excrescen- 
ces, which do not accord with the architecture of modern 
palaces, but which still are not without beauty and effect. 
It stands in a picturesque park, surrounded with woods, 
orchards, green fields, and cottages, while two miles distant 
is the village of Treport, on the seashore. 

dueen Victoria's steam yacht arrived off Treport in the 
afternoon of September 1, 1S43, and Louis Philippe went 
to receive her in his state barge, rowed by twenty-four 
picked men. The moment he set foot on the deck of the 
steamer, he took the Q,ueen in his arms, kissed her on each 
cheek, and without waiting an instant for recovery from the 
surprise, descended into the barge with his burden. Prince 
Albert followed with the suite, and the barge returned to the 
quay, where the royal family of France were waiting to receive 
their visitors under a tent, the sides of which were drawn 
up, that all might see what was going on. It was a scene 
of high interest. The sea, as smooth as glass, was covered 
with ships, steamers, and barges ; the cannon of the bat- 
teries and forts roared forth a welcome ; the houses in the 
town were covered with spectators, and the bright sun 
threw its departing rays upon the burnished helmets, 
corslets and equipments of the cuirassiers. A gray-haired 
monarch, who, after undergoing all the vicissitudes that 
could befall a Prince, found himself on a throne from which 
the rightful heir had been thrust to make way for him, was 
welcoming, with a smile on his lips and a deep design in 
his heart, a sister sovereign to his kingdom. She, the 
graceful and amiable representative of a long line of kings, 
had ascended the throne of her forefathers without the aid 
of any revolution, but had taken her place — a gentle girl — 



244 RISE AND FALL 

amid the applause of millions, and reigned — in herself the 
impersonation of all that is mild and feminine — over the 
mightiest nation in the world. Breaking through the tram- 
mels of distrust, she came, hoping that the opportunities 
thus afforded to each sovereign of appreciating the personal 
virtues and domestic relations of the other, mio-ht infuse 
into their political councils that reciprocal good faith, typified 
by the harmonious folds of the union jack and the tri-color, 
which waved together from the stern of the barge. 

The Q,ueen of England remained at Eu five days, during 
which there were banquets, gipsying parties, reviews, con- 
certs, theatricals, and receptions, attended also by the Queen 
of the Belgians, Prince Albert, the French royal family, 
Soult, Aberdeen, Guizot, and a host of official characters, 
down to the attaches, whose diplomatic button is always a 
talisman, enabling one, (Willis says,) to " see courts and 
defy custom-houses." There was little attempt at state or 
ceremony, and Queen Victoria's unaffected kindness to the 
young Count of Paris made such an impression upon the 
Duchess of Orleans, that she appeared in public for the first 
time after her bereavement. 

While the two sovereigns were walking arm-in-arm in the 
forest at a pic-nic, Louis Philippe called up his chief courier, 
an active, robust man, and presented him to Queen Victoria, 
saying, *' Here is Vernet, an old courier of the empire, who 
acted in that capacity for half a score of years to Napoleon. 
He has now been twenty-eight years in my service, and 
when once stunned by a fall from his horse as he was 
accompanying me on a journey, 1 myself bled and brought 
him to life." 

Among other anecdotes connected with the festivities, 
was the composition of an ode set to music, yer force. 
Auber, the celebrated composer, was sent for by the King, 
who received him with his usual affability, and said : '* JS/i 
hienl Monsieur Auber, we must have by to-morrow night an 
ode to celebrate and commemorate the auspicious visit of her 



OF LOUIS riiiLippE. 245 

Britannic Majesty to Eu." " Sire, it is impossible," replied 
Auber, astounded. "Why?" "The time is so short." 
"Ah! you are always thinking of time, yet it must be 
done." " But I have no theme, Sire." *' Pooh ! pooh ! 
you have her Majesty — you will be inspired." "1 mean, 
Sire, that I have no poem." "No poem — a la honne 
heure — one of my under-secretaries writes verses." The 
poet was sought for, and by royal order locked up with 
Auber in a room, from which they were not to issue until 
the ode was written and set to music. In ten hours the 
work was accomplished, and when it >vas performed in the 
evening, Louis Philippe related the story with great gusto. 

The contemplation of this royal meeting naturally 
awakened many reminiscences. The last conference held 
between a French and Engrlish monarch was that of the 
" Field of the Cloth of Gold." What changes and vicis- 
situdes had marked the fortunes, not only of both the coun- 
tries, but of Europe, since that gorgeous day ! The 
Reformation and its innumerable consequences — the re- 
ligious wars of France and Germany — the decay of the 
great Spanish monarchy — the two revolutions in England, 
with their French counterparts — the long and dreadful 
wars entailed on Europe by the latter — these were among 
the many occurrences by which the mind marked the pro- 
gress of time, from the day that saw "bluff Harry" grasp 
the hand of Francois I., on the plain of Cambray, to that 
which witnessed the greeting between Q,ueen Victoria and 
Louis Philippe at the Chateau d'Eu. When the English 
monarch crossed the channel in 1520, he undoubtedly 
meditated his perfidious aggression two years afterwards 
against France, already engaged in a contest with Charles V. 
Queen Victoria was treated with equal duplicity by Louis 
Philippe, who completely deceived her as to his projects for 
marrying one of his sons to a Spanish* princess — an am- 
bitious scheme which ultimately cost him his crown, and 
was the beginning of the third French Revolution. ^^ 

21* — ** " **" 



246 RISE AND FALL 

Profoundly hating England as the cause of Napoleon's 
humiliation, the visit of Q,ueen Victoria was not acceptable 
to the majority of the French, although their Anglophobia 
was modified by the compliment paid to the nation, and by 
a wish to show that politeness for which they so desire to be 
celebrated, though little real courtesy is to be found in 
France. In order to quiet discontent, the Prince of 
Joinville made a tour through many of the provinces with 
his bride, a princess of the throne of Brazil, to whom he 
had been married a few months previous at Rio Janeiro. 
No one ever accused him of loving " perfidious Albion," 
and all Frenchmen remembered his remark on his return 
from St. Helena in 1841, with the Emperor's remains, 
when he heard that there were serious prospects of war : 
" Should I be attacked, rather than strike, I would blow up 
my vessel — the ashes of Napoleon shall never fall into the 
hands of the English." 

On the 6th of September, 1843, Louis Philippe was 
seventy years old, the first of the Bourbon race who had 
ever attained so advanced an age. Q,ueen Victoria's visit 
appeared to have rejuvenated him, and the completion of 
the detached fortresses around Paris assured him the power 
to suppress any popular demonstration against his dynasty. 
The combat of July, 1830, had proved the folly of letting 
troops en masse fight the people in the streets, and a new 
system of warfare was now planned in case of a revolt. 
Each of the fourteen detached forts was provided with 
200 traversing rampart guns, of 1500 yards' range, which 
could be brought to bear on any house in the city — large 
bodies of troops were to be concentrated on either side of 
the city, from which detachments were to pass through the 
wide boulevards and quais ; and the insurrectionists were to 
be blockaded in the narrow streets, where it was thought 
that hunger and grape-shot would soon make them submis 
sive. One of the grand points d\fppui was the colossal 
. fortress of Vincennes, commanding the quarllers inhabited 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 247 

by the workingraen, who are the material of all revolutions 
— the other was the Champ de Mars, at the opposite ex- 
tremity of the city, which, with its glacis and fosse, could 
easily have been converted into a fortified camp. Between 
these points were erected two lines of guard-houses — one 
on the quais, the other on the boulevards — ball proof, and 
each constantly occupied by a picquet of infantry, with 
provisions and ammunition for a week's siege. These forti- 
fications, built by the revolutionists themselves, were a 
master-stroke of Louis Philippe's, although in the hour of 
need he had not courage to avail himself of them. The 
bombardment of Barcelona by its citadel, in the fall of 
1843, opened the eyes of the Parisians for the first time, 
and showed them that they had been placing themselves 
under the subjugation of their own government, rather than 
preparing to resist invasion. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF BERRYER. 




iW. 



248 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Court of Louis Philippe, with its receptions, balls, 
and theatrical representations, always presented a most 
powerful attraction to the most democratic citizen of the 
American Republic, and at the close of the year 1843, 
(with which the mourning for the Duke of Orleans ended,) 
upwards of fifty gentlemen were presented by the Hon. 
Henry Ledyard, then Charge d' Affaires of the United States. 
At these annual presentations, the visitors are ranged in a 
line, each nation by itself, with its representative in attend- 
ance at the head of his file. As Louis Philippe came along, 
the Minister preceded him, introducing in succession each 
of his countrymen by name, and stating their place of 
residence when at home. This enabled the King to show 
his accurate knowledge of history and geography, as he 
addressed a few words to each with great cordiality and tact, 
yet not without a certain appeal to effect, inseparable from 
sovereignty. After he had proceeded some distance down 
the line, the Queen commenced the same ceremony, and 
was in her turn followed by the remaining members of 
the royal family, all introduced in the same manner as 
the King, although they had less to say. Many amusing 
anecdotes are related of these presentations, among the rest 
one of a young American, who, in order to economize the 
expense of a court dress, had donned the uniform of a 
volunteer corps, and stood like a pike-staff, his eyes meeting 
the floor thirty paces in front, and his little fingers orthodoxly 

sticking to the regulated seam. " Mr. ," said the 

American Minister, " of Boston, Massachusetts." " Ah 1 " 
replied Louis Philippe, "you are from Boston — you have 
then been at Bunker Hill 1 " Inflated with national pride, 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 249 

the militia-man evidently fancied himself taken for one of 
the survivors of that glorious struggle, and opening his 
mouth as w^ide as his glazed stock would permit, he replied, 
" I was'nt born then." 

Foreign ladies were presented on the first Wednesday 
night of each year, when all who had the entree at Court 
went to pay their respects to royalty. At an early hour car- 
riages congregated from all quarters of the metropolis in the 
Place Vendome, where they entered the file, and in due time 
deposited their brilliant occupants at the Palace of the 
Tuileries. On entering, each person gave a card to one 
of the ushers, (who, seated at a long table, entered the 
names and addresses in large visiting ledgers,) and passed 
on up VescaJier d* honneur — a magnificent staircase, whcse 
balustrades are in bronze and polished steel. The first 
saloon, one hundred and forty feet long by thirty-five broad, 
was called the Galerie Louis Philippe^ from a bas-relief of 
the King on horseback, which ornaments the chimney 
piece. Beyond this was the Salle des Marechaux, whose 
walls were adorned with full length portraits of the living 
Marshals of France — the ceiling reaching to the roof, with 
a bold projecting gallery midway up the sides, harmonizing 
the distance. Farther on, two spacious saloons, richly 
ornamented, and containing valuable works of art, led to the 
Salle du Trone. This was hung with crimson velvet and gold, 
a canopy of the former material hanging over the throne, 
which was a large gilt arm-chair, with the letters L. P. 
worked in gold upon its velvet back — it stood on a platform, 
and was surrounded by tabourets for the royal family. 

This splendid suite of apartments, with several smaller 
ones, refulgent with the light of myriads of wax candles 
reflected from the large mirrors, was thronged on these 
state receptions by nine o'clock. Ranged around the walls 
were upwards of three thousand of the female aristocracy of 
France, intermingling with fair ones from every Christian 
nation, all vying with each other in beauty and splendor of 



250 RISE AND FALL 

costume — a magic frame-work to the dense masses of man- 
kind thus enshrined in the centre of each room. 

As the royal family passed through the intervening 
space, each lady was asked her name by an aid-de-camp, 
and he whispered it to another, who was thus enabled to 
introduce her to the King as he came opposite to her, re- 
turning a profound bow for her courtesy, with a kind word 
or compliment. The dueen, Princes and Princesses fol- 
lowed, a few yards apart, receiving, as they passed, the 
courtesies of the line, which rose and fell at intervals, like a 
sea of millinery. When they had gone the entire rounds, a 
most fatiguing task, they formed a group in the throne-room, 
the King in the centre, and the gentlemen defiled before them, 
each one's name being announced as he made his reverence. 
Groups of friends chatted in the ante-chamber — carriages 
and capucins were in demand — the company gradually 
thinned off — and by eleven o'clock the palace was deserted 
by its guests. 

In 1843, (the first of five seasons during which the com- 
piler frequented the French Court,) the American ladies 
presented were universally admitted to surpass all others, in 
beauty of person and charm of address. Most of the 
gentlemen, too, with true Yankee tact, appeared as much at 
their ease in their finery as if they had always frequented 
courts, and the uniforms of some members of the " Boston 
Cadets," were particularly admired. The Duke of Nemours, 
after questioning their gallant commander respecting his 
corps, paid him a high, though merited compliment, on his 
personal appearance. 

These presentations were requisite in order to obtain, 
from the hands of a porter in royal livery, a formidable 
looking envelope, containing a billet couched thus : " The 
Aid-de-Camp of the King on service, and Madame the Mar- 
quise Dolomieu, Lady of Honor to the Queen, have the ho- 
nor to inform Mr. that he is invited to a Ball, which 

will take place at the Palace of the Tuileries on , at 8 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 251 

o'clock." A postscript states that this ticket must be handed 
to the huissier at the door, and that it may not be counter- 
feited, it bears a seal. The compiler extracts an account of 
one of these truly regal entertainments from one of his let- 
ters from Paris to the Boston Atlas. 

" No sooner were these invitations issued, than preparations 
commenced, tailors and mantua-makers were met in every ante- 
chamber, and I have heard it estimated that upwards of fifty thou- 
sand dollars were expended amongst the trades-people by foreign- 
ers, thereby fully verifying the assertion of a French poet : 

' Le bal n'est pas une folie, 
L'existence du pauvre au coup d'archat se lie.' 

"An old moralist, in deploring the uncertainty of all provisions 
in this existence, sorrowfully exclaims, ' Anticipation of dissipa- 
tion doth most ways far outstrip, in gratification and pleasure, the 
dissipation of anticipation,' that is to say, actual enjoyment rarely 
equals the picture previously formed of it. In this instance, 
however, the maxim was agreeably reversed, and genuine joy 
cheered the hearts of many who are too often tempted by the 
withered memory of youthful delusions to exclaim, in the quaint 
language of old Quarles : 

' What's sweet lipped honor's blast — but smoke ? What's treasure 
But very smoke ? And what's more smoke than pleasure ? 
Alas ! they 're all but shadows, fumes and blasts ; 
That vanishes — this fades — the other wastes.' 

"The scene from the gallery in the before mentioned Hall of 
Marshals was the most brilliant it has ever been my lot to witness. 
7'he King was seated between his Queen and her brother, the 
Prince of Salerno, watching with interest the dancing of his chil- 
dren, who were in the set immediately before him. After the 
quadrille, Straus, who led the music, struck up a waltz, and the 
eye was so dazzled by the whirlpool of embroideries, diamonds, 
epaulettes and satins, that I was glad to descend. At the foot of the 
staircase I encountered young Count d'Appony, whose velvet hus- 
sar uniform sets off the fortune of gems which deck it, conversing 
with a small bright looking man in a plain black suit — Thiers, the 



252 RISE AND FALL 

graphic historian. Behind him, was Guizot, his oroad forehead 
bearing the stamp of that genius which even his enemies are con- 
strained to admire, in earnest discussion with Marshal Suult, 
a weather-beaten looking old soldier. Near by were a group of 
' the Gentlemen of England,' who seem no longer to ' live at 
home in ease,' their tall, fair-haired partners wearing their ostrich 
plumes as the bird of paradise does her crest, and gazing with 
jealous interest upon the Countess Gaiccioli. The original of 
Duda, in Dun Juan, still possesses charms of fascinating power, 
her long, fair locks curling over a most glorious pair of shoulders. 
Kilted Highlanders, grave academicians, swarthy Arabs, dashing 
Suliotes and profound statesmen rapidly succeeded each other, al- 
most every face having its history or its poetry. To me, the most 
interesting were those clad in all '• the pomp and panoply of glo- 
rious war,' whose decorations of merit proclaimed that they had 
shared the campaigns of Napoleon. I can but respect these relics 
of the great conqueror, who have rubbed shoulders with Death in 
his most dreadful shapes, and passed through the most fiery or- 
deals, seeking 

' The bubble reputation, 
Even in the cannon's mouth.' 

*' Refreshments were profusely circulated throughout the evening, 
and at one in the morning the royal host and hostess led the way 
to a magnificent supper, served in the theatre, where five long ta- 
bles were covered with game, fruit, jellies, confectionary, and 
choice wines. These were speedily diminished by the attack of 
upwards of nine hundred ladies, sparkling with jewels, upon 
which a hundred lustres shed a flood of light, while a concealed 
band of music poured forth lively strains. It was a truly magic 
spectacle, and the Orientals who looked down upon it from a gal- 
lery, might have fancied themselves transplanted into one of those 
fairy lands which their story-tellers love to dwell upon. I noticed, 
very near the Queen, two young ladies from the Bay State, who 
were pronounced the belles of the Anaerican set, all of whom ap- 
peared to great advantage, particularly several, whose simple at- 
tire could but bring the most cankered heart back to the freshness 
of life's Eden. Dancing was resumed after supper, and few left 
before four in the morning. I remained until five, and immediately 
after doffing my uniform, sat down to write this description, which 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 253 

I will now close, despairing to do justice to the fairy scene I 
have beheld. 

" In a word, on what point can I fix niy ideas of this right royal 
fete — the confusion of equipages, the cries of coachmen, the 
lighting of torches, the distancing of intrusive gazers, the whirl- 
wind of pleasure, the glare of illuminations, the splendor of 
dresses, covered with gold, the scintillation of jewelry, the wav- 
ing of feathers, the beauty of flowers, not half so lovely as the 
faces they adorned, the rustling of brocades, the romantic beauty 
and sparkling animation of young and noble ladies, the renewal of 
youthful charms in others who had ceased to possess them, com- 
pliments a tort et a, travers, quiet flirtations, the sight of the noble 
and illustrious of this land, and of many others, and, above all, 
the presence of Louis Philippe, that truly great man, in a bad, 
(I fear,) as well as a good sense of the word ! " 

There were also each season a series of dramatic enter- 
tainments in the private theatre attached to the palace, to 
which all those who had been presented were invited. Some 
few strangers were asked to attend the weekly receptions 
of the Duke of Nemours, noted for the exclusiveness of the 
invitations, the postscripts of which, '' Gentlemen are to wear 
small-clothes," showed plainly the desire of the future Re- 
gent to restore the Bourbon etiquette. The Duchess of 
Nemours was no less punctilious in these matters than her 
husband, retaining all the formal ideas of her. mother, who 
was dame d^honneur to the Empress of Austria. Both were 
exclusive, haughty and arrogant, offending many and gaining 
the affections of none. Members of the diplomatic corps 
were occasionally invited during the summer to become 
guests of the King at one of the royal country-seats, and 
General Cass thus described a day spent at Fontain- 
bleau : — 

" Each guest is provided with proper apartments ; and soon after 

he rises he is offered a cup of coffee, as is usual in France ; and he 

then strolls out to Idok at the grounds, or to amuse himself as his 

inclination or caprice may dictate. About eleven o'clock he is 

22 



251 RISE AND FALL 

summoned to breakfast, or, as it is termed, a ddjeuner a la four- 
chette. He repairs to the saloon of reception, where he pays his 
respects to the royal family, and where he meets all the other 
guests who participate with him in the general hospitality. From 
here the company go to the breakfast room, a magnificent hall, 
where a splendid table is spread with perhaps one hundred covers. 
The breakfast — resembling in fact a dinner, rather than our 
morning meal — is served upon elegant dishes, and presents the 
greatest variety of the choicest fruits. It is introduced by soup, 
and at the termination tea or coffee is taken according to the taste 
of each person. At this time an intimation is given to the guests 
respecting the amusements of the day, which consist in hunting in 
the beautiful forest, visiting the circumjacent country, looking at 
the military manoeuvres, or recreations of a similar kind. The 
means of riding are placed at the disposition of each person, 
either in carriages or on horseback, and he joins the party, and the 
day passes cheerfully away. At six o'clock in the evening there 
is again a general reunion in the saloons of reception, and from 
these the company move to the dinner table, which is all that the 
epicure or the man of the most refined taste could wish. Among 
other amusements of the evening, is that of walking through the 
splendid apartments, one of which, by the by, contains the table 
at which the renunciation of Napoleon was written, together with 
the pen and inkstand which he made use of on that memorable oc- 
casion, and the original autograph instrument he wrote. The 
room is historical, and it is to be hoped that no Vandal will arise 
to destroy these interesting memorials. There is no danger of this 
during the life of the present King or that of his son. The rest of 
the evening is spent in music and conversation, and a cheerful day 
is brought to a cheerful close." 

The private life of Louis Philippe was methodical, and 
calculated to maintain his excellent health. He used to rise 
at six o'clock in the morning, at all seasons, from the single 
mattress, laid on a camp bedstead, where he had taken less 
than six hours' sleep; while enjoying a cold bath, he listened 
to the letters from his diplomatic agents, read to him by his 
secretary. Then, after drinking a cup of strong coffee, he 
repaired to his dressing room, where his family used to assem 



OP LOUIS PHILIPPE. 255 

ble ; and while the Queen and her children carried on an 
animated and unreserved conversation, he shaved himself, 
bestowed careful attention upon his white and perfect 
teeth, had his bushy whiskers tinged with a glossy black 
dye, and when his flowing black peruke was adjusted, might 
have passed for a much younger man. At ten, he made a 
frugal breakfast, generally eating fried potatoes, and then 
went out to walk if in the country, or if in Paris rambled 
through the immense Palace of the Louvre, which he was 
incessantly altering, often returning with his habiliments 
covered over with mortar and dust. 

At one o'clock the Council of Ministers assembled, and 
Louis Philippe was invariably present, for he had no idea of 
letting any thing be done without his knowledge and sanc- 
tion. Sitting at the council table, he always took a sheet of 
paper, and while listening to the deliberations sketched with 
a pen a variety of grotesque or fanciful figures, with a good 
deal of freedom, which were much sought after by the ladies 
about the Court to place in their albums. He often became 
very much irritated when his Ministers hesitated in carrying 
out his projects, and used violent language, mingled with 
oaths. After the Council he almost invariably rode out, 
if in Paris, in a ball-proof carriage which was a load for 
eight horses. Its windows were of plate-glass three quar- 
ters of an inch in thickness, and it was the duty of an Eng- 
lish servant to keep it constantly under his supervision, lest 
some infernal machine should be attached to it. The King 
never traversed the city ; and while leaving by the broad 
avenues, was always escorted by a strong force, who sur- 
rounded his carriage. 

At dinner, Louis Philippe used to eat a plate of two kinds 
of soup, mixed, and then cutting up a fowl, boiled with rice, 
would nearly finish it, drinking pure water, about which he 
was very particular. At the end of his meal he drank half a 
glass of old claret wine, and then taking a bunch of grapes 
in his hand, unceremoniously left the table, and withdrew 



256 RISE AND FALL 

into an adjoining apartment, where all the newspapers in 
France were laid out for his perusal, with the leading Lon- 
don journals. After he had read the papers, he joined the 
dneen in her drawing-room, where all members of the diplo- 
matic corps, statesmen, and superior officers, were freely re- 
ceived en famille. 

The ladies sat around a large centre table, in which each 
had her drawer, busily engaged in the fabrication of fancy 
articles, or worsted work, destined for presents, fairs, or 
charitable lotteries. Conversation generally took a religious 
turn, for the Q,ueen was so devout as to make her daughters- 
in-law almost so many nuns, exacting from them a strict ob- 
servance of all the duties of the Romish church. The King 
usually stood near the fire-place, chatting familiarly with his 
guests and the privileged few who had dropped in, bringing 
the news of the day. About eight o'clock, the Duchess of 
Orleans, having seen the eyes of her loved boy closed in 
sleep, came to relate his day's progress to the family, who 
looked upon him as their hope after Providence deprived his 
mother of her holiest object of affection. She was a stren- 
uous Protestant, and the Queen had great fears that she 
would instill anti-Catholic ideas into the young Count's mind, 
often saying harsh things on the subject to her, which the 
Princess was wont to receive meekly, sustained by that sense 
of duty which enabled her to support the sorrows of eternal 
mourning, softened by a mother's pride. When nine struck, 
the King used always to offer her his arm, and they took 
four or five turns around the saloon, when she retired to her 
private apartment, and was soon followed by the guests. 
Some of the Princes now usually dropped in to swell the 
family group, which enjoyed unrestrained the pleasures of a 
home fireside until eleven o'clock, when all said Ion soir, 
and Louis Philippe retired to his study to attend to his colos- 
sal private affairs. 

These were always managed with the most careful atten- 
tion, not a simple lease being signed by an agent, until it 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. ^57 

had been read to the royal proprietor; and in few mercantile 
houses are the books and papers in as perfect order as were 
those of Louis Philippe. What his private fortune was, or 
where it was invested, will probably never be known, but it 
was notorious that he did not expend one half of the sums 
he received, directly or indirectly, from the State. Not a 
session of the Chambers passed without a fresh demand for 
more money, generally in the shape of a dowry or an allow- 
ance to the Princesses or Princes, and each was met with 
accusations of niggardly economy which could not be re- 
futed by the Ministers. " Why," concluded Monsieur 
L'Herbette on one occasion in the Chamber of Deputies, 
*' were the French people so attached to Napoleon ? Be- 
cause they saw that, although hostile to their liberties, he 
had a patriotic feeling — a feeling of generous self-denial, 
identified with the interests of the nation. And how was it 
with the Bourbons ? They, it is true, made large demands, 
and spent their revenues to advance their political interests ; 
but they did not hoard them. And you. Ministers of the 
new dynasty — you too are ever crying, give, give — you 
are ever demanding more gold. If it were to give away, we 
might bestow it — but it is to keep — always to keep." 

This auri sacra fames did much to complete the measure 
of Louis Philippe's unpopularity, for while the trades-people 
sighed for the prodigalities of the Imperial and Bourbon 
courts, the old nobility were mortally offended by the royal 
preference shown to the Rothschilds, Foulds, and other 
banking families. The proud-spirited Montmorencies, La- 
rochejacquelins, or Rochfoucaulds, might have transferred 
their allegiance to the cadet branch, but they could never 
give precedence to a parvenu, any more than the shop- 
keepers could uphold a monarch who cut down his grocer's 
bills, sold the candle-ends from his palaces, and contracted 
with a restaurateur to supply his dinner-table at four francs 
per head. In order to make a living, the contractor served 
up what was left at a cheap eating-house in the Palais 
Royal. 

22* 



258 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

In the spring of 1844, the war party, incensed because 
Louis Philippe relinquished Tahiti to Great Britain, accused 
him of compromising the honor and interests of France to 
England, and when in the month of October he returned 
the visit of Queen Victoria, a large majority of the popu- 
lace were induced to join in the cry " a has les Anglais.'^ 
Her Britannic Majesty gave Louis Philippe a right royal 
reception at her old castle of Windsor, where she invested 
him with the order of the garter, and the corporations of 
the cities through which he passed, vied with each other in 
their attentions to the " Napoleon of Peace." Among 
other places which he visited, was Twickenham ; and how 
many stirring recollections must have been awakened in his 
mind when he there stood again before the house which he 
had occupied many years previous, in the days of his compar- 
ative obscurity — days which for weeks and months together 
rose and set in gloom, and produced scarcely a single 
auspicious event on which to hang a hope for the future ! 
Notwithstanding his triumphant position, he could not but 
have thought, with a sigh, of the friends who once shared 
his exile under that roof — of the brothers who enjoyed his 
confidence, and were to him a second self — and more 
especially of Dumouriez, under whose auspices he made 
his first attempt to seize the French crown. Now that 
diadem was his, all those old associates had passed away, 
and with them all his old political associations. With a 
political tergiversation unparalleled in history, the Repub- 
lican of 1793 endeavored to govern in 1844 by ''right 
divine." 



OF LOUIS rniLippE. 259 

Whom the " Gods destroy, they first make mad," and 
Louis Philippe seemed determined to verify Napoleon's con- 
temptuous definition of the Bourbon rule — "They had 
learned nothing, and they had forgotten nothing." Seated 
on a throne founded on the wrecks of the Republic, the 
Empire, and the Legitimate. Monarchy, he might have 
profited by the errors of his predecessors, and the calami- 
ties of the past ; but that intense selfishness which ultimately 
proved his ruin, led him to incorporate all the faults of his 
predecessors into the system which he followed for his per- 
sonal aggrandizement, regardless of the interests of France. 
Never did a reign commence more auspiciously, and never 
did a ruler more completely falsify the confiding hopes of 
his subjects, who found to their cost that their country, 
under the Constitutional Monarchy, was but a family estate 
held for the benefit of Louis Philippe and his relations. 
He even went so far in this personal use of the nation, as 
to violate the fundamental canon on which rests the safety 
of any constitutional throne — that the sovereign is incapa- 
ble of wrong, only so long as he abstains from personal 
interference in public affairs : he did interfere to the extent 
of being his own Prime Minister, and thus made himself 
ministerially responsible. 

Yet a constant attempt was made to conceal the oppres- 
sion and fraud by an affectation of political virtues, and 
much cant about freedom, liberty, and progress, which no 
Frenchman believed, for the truth was too evident. The 
bloody campaigns in Algiers, and the immense standing 
army at home, proved that while he stimulated the war 
spirit, he curbed as he spurred, and kept France at peace 
merely in order to pursue his intrigues for private aggran- 
dizement. Demands for electoral reform were treated with 
scorn, and the Chamber of Deputies was notoriously corrupt 
— corrupt in the electoral origin, and corrupt, moreover, in 
the persons of the Deputies, by the King's abuses of his 
power and his patronage. The diplomacy of the nation 



260 RISE AND FALL 

were occupied in arranging the marriage of the Infanta of 
Spain to the Duke of Montpensier. The public revenues 
were anticipated, and the annual deficit annually increased. 
The Catholic clergy were gradually allowed to steal into 
power, and the education of the people, so necessary to 
render them capable of the enjoyment of civil liberty, was 
shamefully neglected.* In short, " during a reign in which 
his real authority and influence were immense, he did little 
for his country, little for the moral and intellectual elevation 
of his people, and nothing for the gradual improvement of 
the political institutions of the kingdom, because his time 
and attention were absorbed in seeking splendid foreign 
alliances for his children, and in manoeuvring to maintain 
a supple majority in the Chambers, and to keep those min- 
isters at the head of affairs, who would second most heartily 
his private designs." f 

Soon after the unsuccessful insurrection in 1839, the 
Legitimists, the Republicans, the renegade Conservatives, 
and the faction of Odilon Barrot, had combined their motley 
forces under the supreme command of Monsieur Thiers. 
Unsuccessful in his attempts to become Prime Minister in 



* To form a more correct idea on this subject, it may be well to look at 
the state of instruction in France. Official returns divide in 1845 the 
whole population into six classes — three degrees of ignorance, and thiee 
of instruction — as follows : 

IGNOKANCE. 

1st — Unable to read and to write 16,855,000 

2d — Able to read, but not to write 7,097,000 

3d — Reading and writing, but incorrectly .... 6,968,000 

INSTRUCTION. 

4th — Reading and writing correctly 2,430,000 

5th — Having the elements of classical education . . . 735,000 
6lh — Having completed their classical studies .... 315,000 

Total 31,400,000 

t North American Review for July, 1848. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 261 

1840, he passed several years, like the genii who lay incar- 
cerated beneath the seal of Solomon, in magnificent prom- 
ises. At last, in March, 1846, he took a decided stand 
against Louis Philippe in the Chamber of Deputies, where 
he advocated electoral reform, and a curtailment of the 
royal prerogative. The discussion was on a bill to exclude 
public functionaries from the Chamber of Deputies, where 
179 of the 376 members were then in the pay of govern- 
ment, and 132 of them obliged to act in obedience to 
ministerial orders, or forfeit their places. Monsieur Thiers 
did not, like Lafitte, '' ask pardon from God and man for 
having aided in the revolution of 1830," but boldly de- 
clared : "Some pretend to say that a representative gov- 
ernment is impossible in France, on account of her deeply- 
rooted aristocracy. Ah ! if that is true, it should have 
been told us in 1830 ; it should have been told us then — 
we, who were signing a protestation which might have cost 
us our heads ; it should have been told us, then, that the 
difficulty was above our hopes, and that we risked our lives 
for an illusion. It would have been preferahle to have had 
no revolution — and I only decided in favor of one, because 
I thought a representative government possible." " You 
know well," he remarked, in conclusion, " that England has 
passed through the same train of events — that she also 
killed a King — that she had her revolution of 1830 in 
1668 — after which William of Holland took the throne of 
England ; and it is from that, the true representative gov- 
ernment dates in England. Well, William would be master, 
HE, ALSO ! He claimed that power which all princes claim 
— and I say, on this subject, truly foolish are those ivho are 
astonished — truly feeble those who submit J^ 

This speech was a masterpiece of eloquence, and from that 
moment the days of Louis Philippe's reign were numbered. 
It was thus commented on by the " National,'' which was 
established as the King's organ, but was at this time the 
leading opposition paper : — 



262 RISE AND FALL 

" Never have vi^e found him so full of life and spirit, of happy, 
brilliant, and frequently elevated inspirations. His language, 
which is sometimes erratic, beating about the bush, and break- 
ing out into eccentric sparklings, was condensed, but animated ; 
tracing, in one direct line, its luminous course, it went on and 
on, following its path, without fearing to push aside whatever 
obstacle it might meet with ; and we may add, that when the 
throne came in its way, the throne did not stop it. It is not 
permitted to us, who are not free, to point with the finger at the 
figure so clearly designed under a veil of transparent gauze. The 
whole speech of M. Thiers was an accusation against the personal 
government. We might have fancied ourselves brought back to 
the times of those tempestuous debates in which the coalition 
launched its thunderbolts." 

This determined opposition was for a time quieted by 
sympathy. A forest-keeper, an ill-conditioned and discon- 
tented man, who had seen better days, and who had been 
an officer in Greece (though but a game-keeper at Fontain- 
bleau,) fired two shots from his double-barrelled gun into 
the carriage of the royal family of France. He was one of 
the best shots in the forest, and how the eight or ten persons 
in the char-d-hanc so completely escaped this fire was a 
miracle. *' There is a salute for grandpapa ! " said the 
little Prince of Wurtemberg, in the simplicity of his heart, 
but a second afterwards, his grandmother picked the 
smoking wadding of this first shot from her bosom with a 
trembling hand, and gave it to the King. While he was 
reassuring her, the assassin again fired, but again without 
effect, and the unhappy Queen fainted. The char-d-hanc 
went its way — the would-be-regicide was captured, and 
soon afterwards beheaded, though all efforts to trace the 
crime to party feeling failed. It is the worst of centralized 
systems of administration, that all ill or wrong can be 
attributed to the head of the state, more especially when 
that head is active and dictatorial ; so that in France, where 
so large a portion of the population are employed by gov- 
ernment, there were perhaps a million of malcontens, who by 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 263 

a little exaggeration of each one's personal importance miglit 
have been led to consider the King as their personal enemy. 
This seems to have been the madness of Lecomte; fortune 
jilted him, and he sought to avenge himself on Louis 
Philippe, and, instead of harming him, contributed im- 
mensely to consolidate his throne. It insured the monarchy 
three months of that strong popularity which is elicited by 
sympathy, at the important moment of the elections. 

It was owing in part to this sympathy, but in a great 
measure to the monstrous system of corruption organized 
throughout France, that at the election in September, 1846, 
two hundred and eighty-six ministerial candidates were 
returned, to one hundred and seventy-three of the opposi- 
tion. In eighteen of the eighty-six departments not a single 
opposition candidate was returned. And yet the various 
shades of the opposition were indefatigable in their exer- 
tions; but the condition of the official influence shows in a 
still stronger light the inevitable action of the throne upon 
the independence of the nation. It is distinctly stated that, 
of the 240,000 electors of France, 160,000 shared among 
themselves and their families no less than 628,000 offices, 
held at the pleasure of Ministers, with emoluments amount- 
ing to nearly one hundred and ten millions of dollars. It 
was also well known that honors were bought and sold, 
titles bartered for political and literary support, and priv- 
ileges, both commercial and theatrical, bargained for, and 
bestowed for a price. 

The only gain for France, which the royalists attempted 
to show, was the marriage of the Duke of Montpensier to 
the Infanta of Spain by a dark series of intrigues, and the 
most immoral contrivance that has disgraced the history of 
modern Europe. Her dowry of thirty millions of francs 
was paid into the coffers of the Orleans family, but it was 
an inadequate compensation for political embarrassments of 
the most serious nature, for England could not forget that 
she had been deceived by a royal falsehood. It was in vain 



264 RISE AND FALL 

that Guizot attempted to clear up his master's prevarication 
by a wretched subterfuge. Queen Victoria continued inex- 
orably indignant, even after Louis Philippe himself under- 
took to cajole her by sending a large doll to her eldest 
child, with a wardrobe of all the different peasant-costumes 
of France, and an autograph letter. This epistle of the 
" old cousin " read thus : 

" Paris, January 27, 1846. 
'*7t) her Royal Highness Princess Victoria. 

"My dearest little Cousin: — Your charming little letter has 
given me the greatest pleasure ; and I am very happy to have 
received from you a proof of that precious affection which your 
illustrious parents feel for me, and which I entertain so deeply for 
them. If I have been so long in replying to you, it is because I 
wished my letter to go at the same time with a little Parisienne^ 
whose services I thought might be agreeable to you, without 
giving you any trouble, or exciting any jealousy on the part of 
those about you. The little wardrobe, however, which I ordered 
Madame Bassine [a marchande des modes in the Place Vendome] 
to arrange for her, in order that she might appear before you with 
all the fashions in use among forty-six of her fellow country- 
women, has taken so long a time to complete, that it is only just 
now that the Queen has begged me to come to her, to see her 
before she is sent to Lord Cowley for her passport, I hope you 
will be kind enough to receive my little protigde. I am very glad 
that your brother Albert has not forgotten me also, and I hope that 
he still uses his gun to go through the exercise. I do not know 
whether I can flatter myself that Princess Alice has not forgotten 
me ; but as to Prince Alfred [then a baby of a year and a half,] it 
is quite out of the question [in English.] But what is in the ques- 
tion is, that I love you all very tenderly, and that I take the 
liberty of kissing you all as your old cousin, 

"Louis Philippe." 

On the first of January, 1847, Louis Philippe, in replying 
to the fulsome congratulations of the diplomatic corps, 
prayed God to preserve other nations from revolutionary 
struggles, and hypocritically hoped that the example of 
France mio-ht " convince States and Kinors that monarchy 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 2G5 

and liberty might live and prosper together, but that they 
could not do so, except at the price of mutual confidence." 
Yet at that very moment there was a growing feeling 
throughout the country, of irritation at the abuses practised 
by this would-be-model King, and his government had 
begun to totter, not under the assaults of its enemies, but 
by the dissolution of its own majority and the corruption of 
its own principles. Yet Louis Philippe, still intoxicated 
with power and sanguine of perpetual success, went boldly 
on to carry out the vast designs of Louis XIV. in the 
middle of his reign, as if he had forgotten that his throne 
had been raised by a revolution and supported by individual 
will. Secured by his fortresses and bayonets, he apparently 
never dreamed that a few hours would suffice to turn the 
fury of the Parisians against his own person and family, 
and while urging Guizot on to execute his projects, he held 
him in reserve ready to be sacrificed as a convenient con- 
cession, which would quiet the popular tumult. 

M. Duvergier de Hauranne made an attempt to carry a 
bill for electoral reform through the Chamber of Deputies, 
but it was defeated by the ministerial party. " In the first 
revolution," said Gustave de Beaumont in the debate upon 
it, ''the ruling passion was the maintenance of principles ; 
under the restoration it was a love of liberty ; at present it 
is a desire for material amelioration ; first came ideas, 
then passions, now interests. M. Guizot has himself de- 
clared, that in democratic governments it was necessary to 
oppose the masses to the aristocracy : yet what voice have 
now the masses of France in her councils ? " * 

* The electoral position of the French at this time was as follows : 
8,184,887 individuals paying 1 to 20 francs each 96,000,000 
764,749 " " 21 " 30 " 18,000,000 

705,312 *' " 31 " 50 " 29,000,000 

549,817 " " 51 " 100 " 36,000,000 

291,696 " " 101 '• 199 " 27,000,000 



10,496,461 non-voting- tax payers pay a total of 206,000,000 francs. 
23 [!?ee next page.] 



266 RISE AND FALL 

At the King's fete, on the first of May, the public 
addresses were even in a more fulsome style of congratula- 
tion than before, and Louis Philippe said in reply, laying 
his hand on his heart, '' I thank th^ Chambers for the 
support which has permitted me to accomplish the great 
task imposed upon me; and now that France enjoys all 
the advantages of peace and prosperity, I might exclaim, 
' Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace.' " This 
declaration was received with scorn, as all France knew 
that thirty of the Deputies, who were pledged to support 
the administration at the commencement of the session, 
had become so indignant at the bare-faced corrruption 
which reigned, that they had taken a high independent 
ground of opposition. This Spartan band of seceders, who 
were not to be bribed or flattered, gave most deplorable 
pictures of the actual condition of the country; and as- 
serted that, although Louis Philippe had maintained peace 
and order, seventeen years' tranquillity ought to have pro- 
duced other fruits. *' What have the government to show, 
as the results 1 " asked ^'La Presse," the organ of the Young 
Conservatives. 



146,572 


individuals 


paying 200 


to 300 francs each 34,000,000 


36,227 


(( 




(( 


301 


400 


(( 


12,000,000 


17,521 


u 




(( 


401 


500 


C( 


7,000,000 


10,374 


(( 




(( 


501 


600 


(( 


5,000,000 


6,735 


u 




(( 


601 


700 


(( 


4,000,000 


4,316 


C( 




(( 


701 


800 


(( 


3,000,000 


3,175 


t( 




(( 


801 


900 


(( 


2,500,000 


2,548 


l( 




C( 


901 


1,000 


C( 


2,500,000 


3,773 


(( 




(( 


1,001 


1,500 


(( 


4,500,000 


3,419 


(( 




(( 


1,501 


2,000 


(I 


5,000,000 


1,620 


(( 




(C 


2,001 


2,500 


t( 


3,500,000 


876 


(( 




(( 


2,501 


3,000 


cc 


2,500,000 


882 


(C 




(( 


3,001 


4,000 


cc 


3,000,000 


997 


voting 


tax- 


above 4,000 
payers, pay in 


g a total of 




4,500,000 


239,015 


93,000,000 francs. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE, 267 

"Order! a budget of expenses, constantly increasing until it 
amounts to more than $3,000,000. Peace ! an army which ruins 
us, alienates from us our natural allies, and prevents our having a 
powerful navy — churches in ruins — communal schools without 
light and air — primary teachers receiving an annual salary of $40 
— long and deep ruts pompously dignified with the name of vicinal 
roads — departmental roads, commenced, it is true, but which our 
children will not live long enough to see finished — broken sections 
of railroads — canals unconnected with each other, so as to be unser- 
viceable to the country — maritime ports in bad condition — building 
yards without materials — arsenals filled with arms and ammunition, 
which appear to have been manufactured for no other purpose than 
to attest the superiority of England over us — fortifications without 
any affinity to the constitution of our armies — colonies in a state 
of decay — razzias and bulletins in Africa — sinecures without num- 
ber, and yet, at the same time, an infinity of useful employments 
inadequately remunerated — useful expenses you are unable to 
incur, on account of useless expenses you have not courage to 
suppress — men without ideas placed in positions that require men 
of genius and understanding — excessive taxes, which you cannot 
reduce — unequal taxes, which you know not how to bring to a 
proper level — abuses in every department — administrations in 
which mediocrity and want of good-will reign in sovereignty, and 
in which emulation and zeal are systematically stifled — speeches, 
an exuberance of speeches, without any acts — treaties concluded, 
but which cannot be ratified — expeditions undertaken, the glory 
of which is dearly paid for — marriages contracted, which are 
proudly proclaimed as the only great achievement won by France 
single-handed during seventeen years, the result of which is but 
to raise us to a summit, rendering our fall the more deep and 
dangerous. These are facts which cannot be denied. Are they 
such results as justify exultation on surveying the country — this 
country, which, if the right means were taken, would become so 
rich, so powerful, so glorious, as to render it an example to all 
governments — to the people of all nations'? " 

Thus far, Louis Philippe's government had been sup- 
ported by a general impression among the monied and 
trading classes that it was " safe," but its rottenness was 



268 RISE AND FALL 

shown by the trial before the Chamber of Peers, which re- 
sulted in the conviction of two ex-cabinet Ministers, men 
occupying high stations in public life, of open bribery. 
Other cases followed, disclosing equally frightful pictures of 
public and private life, and even the austere Guizot was im- 
plicated — for his severe political morality could not exempt 
him from the influence of the means by which Louis Phi- 
lippe's Prime Minister was forced to sustain himself. First, 
he had to serve the King ; next, he had a Chamber elected 
by a constituency, which, for a population of thirty-five 
millions, was the mere mockery of a representation. The 
King was powerful ; the people were legally and constitu- 
tionally weak ; between the King and the people, were the 
two Chambers, almost entirely governed and swayed by the 
immense number of offices and places in the gift of the 
crown. Under these circumstances, a Minister might aifect 
political purity, and "praise the lean and sallow abstinence " 
from official gains, as much as he would, individually ; he 
might practise what he preaches, but he must connive at 
corruption in others ; he must subdue his nature to the 
element he works in, and rule by the influences nearest his 
hand. He could not appeal to free principles ; it would not 
suit the "system;" he could seek no support from great 
masses of public opinion ; its expression was proscribed and 
forbidden ; he must play the lackey to the power above him 
as the first condition of his official existence, and he must 
buy support from those who have it to sell, as the second. 

On the 15th of May, 1847, the compiler of this work 
wrote from Paris to the Boston Atlas : " Until very recently, 
I have thought the Orleans dynasty secure upon the throne, 
but I now fear it will end with the life of Louis Philippe — 
destroyed by the corruption of its own principles." On the 
20th of July he wrote to the same paper : 

" The French begin to see their real position ! They find that 
the promises made to them in 1830 have been grossly violated. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 269 

and that the Democrat then seated on the throne as * the best of 
Republics,' put on the purple cap (like the radicals in the United 
States,) to amuse the populace while he fleeced them. Once in 
power he commenced a steady rule — now with a rod of iron, and 
row by moral suasion — which gave hopes of progress, but no 
good effects are manifest, save a long peace, and this peace was 
for the King's private interests. Public confidence is impaired, 
the recent disclosures have added disgust to dislike, disquiet is 
gaining ground, nor will it take much to rouse the people into 
open revolt. The French acquiesce in the decisions of the ruling 
power without much comment, until the yoke becomes too oppres- 
sive — then, rising as if by magic, they cast it to the ground. 

" Meanwhile, the opposition are rallying with a political ardor 
not seen here since the revolution, and begin to show open defi- 
ance — upwards of a thousand Deputies and electors having dined 
together at the Chateau Rouge on the 13th, without drinking the 
King's health. Thiers did not dare to join in this political insult ; 
but Barrot, De Lasteyrie, De Beaumont, Pagnerre, George W. 
Lafayette, his son Oscar Lafayette, and other influential Deputies 
were present to express in bitter language their disappointment at 
the King's desertion of the principles he espoused in 1830, Many 
of these Deputies attended just such a banquet in April, 1830, 
manifesting on that occasion the same opposition to the ruinous 
policy of the government-— and many other similar signs of dis- 
content warrant the expression of my belief, that unless some im- 
mediate change takes place in his administration, Louis Philippe 
will meet the fate of Charles X. 

" His safeguard is the army, and never was a monarch more 
closely guarded — all the palaces being but so many citadels. The 
Tuileries, for example, contains eighteen guard-houses, occupied 
by six hundred picked men from the infantry regiments, fifty dra- 
goons, and three hundred national guards — the former with per- 
cussion locks and twenty rounds of ball cartridge, while the guns 
of the national guards have flints, and are never soiled by powder. 
In addition, the five barracks of the Carrousel, rue St. Thomas, 
Assomption, d'Orsay, and Bourbon, contain each a regiment 
within five minutes' march, and electric telegraphs communicate 
with the other garrisons scattered over Paris. At night, fifty trusty 
guardiens mount guard within the palace, armed with double- 
barrelled carbines, and seventy-three sentries are posted around the 
23* 



270 RISE AND FALL 

walls, with loaded muskets. These last have orders to let no one 
come near the palace, and the benighted pedestrian has to make a 
wide circuit, instead of passing through its court, as in the day- 
time. Some years since, a young recently imported American, 
who was ignorant of this regulation and of the French tongue, re- 
turning one night from a party, pursued the route which he had 
several times taken in the daytime, but to his surprise found a 
bayonet brought to his breast. ^Qui viveV muttered the sentry. 
' Don't understand you,' was the reply ; but the ominous click-click 
of the lock brought to full cock, was rather scarish, even though 
our Yankee friend had ' seen the elephant ' in Florida. ^Pass- 
port — Amirique — Parlez Anglais,' were shouted by him with 
such evident innocence, that the sentry raised his muzzle and 
called the corporal of the guard ; but ere the young traveller was 
liberated, he had to send for a French friend in authority, to vouch 
that he had no design of assassinating the King." 

Even the *' Siecle,'' a moderate political paper, which en- 
joyed a larger circulation than any other journal in Paris, 
and wielded a powerful influence over public opinion, began 
to use bold language, and draw comparisons between the 
existing state of affairs, and those in 1827, '28 and '29. At 
last its editor concluded an article by saying — " We for a 
long time imagined that well-intentioned, courageous men, 
firm in their resolutions, might succeed in leading the gov- 
ernment from the fatal course in which it has entangled 
itself We no longer believe it possiile." But the trumpet- 
notes of defiance came from Macon, where, at a public 
dinner, Alphonse de Lamartine launched his thunderbolts 
against the throne, in the midst of a tempest. The wind 
carried away the tent, and the lightning flashed salutes to 
his bold words, which marked him as the future leader of 
the French, while his auditors braved the elements to hear 
of honesty and liberty. The following passages will give 
an idea of the whole speech : 

" If the royalty, monarchic in name, democratic in fact, adopted 
by France in 1830, comprehends that it is only the sovereignty of 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 271 

the people, raised above electoral storms, and crowned in one head, 
to represent, at the summit of the public interests, the unity and 
perpetuity of the national power ; if the modern royalty, a delega- 
tion from the people, so different from ancient royalty, the property 
of the throne, considers itself as a magistracy decorated with a 
title, which has changed its signification in the languages of man- 
kind ; if it satisfies itself with being the respected regulator of the 
mechanism of government, marking and moderating the move- 
ments of the general will, without constraining it, without falsify- 
ing it, without changing or corrupting its source, which is opinion ; 
if it contents itself with being in its own eyes but as the fronts of 
those old demolished temples, which the ancients replaced to de- 
ceive the superstitious respect of the people, and give to the 
modern edifice some recollections of the ancient, representative 
royalty, it will exist a number of years, sufficient for its work of 
preparation and transaction ; and the duration of its service will be 
to our children, exactly commensurate with the duration of its 
existence. 

" If, on the contrary, the royalty deceives the hopes, which the 
prudence of the country placed, in 1830, less in its nature than its 
name ; if it isolates itself upon its constitutional elevation ; if it 
does not incorporate itself entirely with the feelings and the legit- 
imate interests of the mass ; if it surrounds itself with an elec- 
toral aristocracy, instead «f making itself one with the people ; 
if, under pretext of favoring the religious sentiments of the popu- 
lation, the most beautiful, the noblest, the holiest sentiment of 
humanity, but which is only holy and noble so far as it is free, it 
leagues itself with the machinations of sacerdotal familiars, to pur- 
chase from their hands the superstitious respect of the people ; if 
it encamps itself in a fortified city ; if it suspects the national 
organization of a civil militia, and disarms it little by little, as an 
enemy ; if it caresses the military spirit, at once so necessary and 
so dangerous to liberty, in a continental country as brave as France ; 
if without openly waiting for the will of the nation, it corrupts 
this will, and buys, under the name of influences, a dictatorship, 
the more dangerous, that it will be purchased under the shield of 
the constitution ; if it succeeds in making of a nation of citizens a 
vile horde of traffickers, who have conquered their liberty at the 
price of their fathers' blood, only to sell it out to the highest bid- 
der for sordid favors; if it causes France to blush at her official 



272 RISE AND FALL 

vices, and if it allows us to sink, (as we see at this moment, in a 
deplorable lawsuit,) if it allows us to sink into the tragedy of cor- 
ruption ; if it allows the nation to be humiliated and afflicted by 
the dishonesty of the public power — it will fall, this royalty — be 
ye sure it will fall — not in its blood, like that of '89 — but into its 
own snare ! And after having had the revolution of liberty, and 
the counter-revolution of glory, you will have the revolution of 
public conscience, and the revolution of public contempt." 

Guizot boldly braved the storm, letting no opportunity 
pass of proclaiming his innocence, and the great services he 
had rendered to France. " Men in power," he said at the 
Chamber of Peers, " in other lands, have been strangely 
outraged by similar insinuations. George Washington, the 
greatest citizen the United States ever produced, was for 
two years accused of having sold his country to England, 
and forged letters were brought forward in support of the 
accusation. At present the names of his calumniators are 
no longer remembered, and in order to discover them, the 
historian has to search the journals and obscure pamphlets 
of the day. The conclusion to be drawn from this is, that 
every man in power must expect similar insult — whether I 
form an exception to the rule, it is for you to judge." This 
hypocritical assertion of innocence was actually received 
with a general laugh and several audible negatives, for every 
one present knew that M. Guizot had given places for 
votes, if he had not, (like Teste, Soult, and Duchatel,) 
pocketed bribes. 

In the Ministerial Councils, Guizot urged the necessity of 
taking a decided stand against all reform movements, while 
the Prince of Joinville and Madame Adelaide in vain strove 
to persuade Louis Philippe to pursue a more conciliatory 
cause. They were unheeded, and as if Heaven meant to 
rebuke the infatuated monarch, his sister died on the morn- 
ing of the 31st of December. She had been indisposed for 
some months, but her indisposition did not inspire any seri- 
ous uneasiness, and she had determined to be present at the 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 273 

new year's receptions. On the 30th she was busy in 
selecting etrennes, aided by her favorite nephew, the Duke 
de Montpensier, from the assortments sent her from the 
glittering repertories on the boulevards, and was unusually 
particular in choosing for all her friends some offering 
which would probably be acceptable. In the evening she 
said that she felt fatigued, and asked her attendants to leave 
the room while she reposed on a sofa ; but hearing the step 
of the Duke de Montpensier in the corridor, she called him 
in, to be sure that her new year's gifts would all be sent. 
About ten the King paid her a visit, and finding her asleep, 
left without disturbing her, expressing his satisfaction to the 
Queen at finding her resting so quietly. An hour after- 
wards her physician arrived, and his science detected, in 
this profound sleep, tokens of speedy death. Midnight 
struck on the palace clock, and the whole royal family were 
kneeling around her, while the Cure of St. Roch offered up 
prayers for her departing spirit. Louis Philippe, his hands 
clasped in agony, and tears streaming down his cheeks, 
seemed unable to speak, but the fatal death-rattle roused 
him. " Adieu, my dear sister," he said in a voice broken 
by sobs ; '' may we soon meet in a better world." A few 
moments more, and her soul had returned to God. The 
King's favorite companion through all his chequered life, his 
grief at her loss was violent ; and when on the following 
Wednesday he saw her body deposited in the sepulchral 
vaults at Dreux, by the side of his mother, brother, and son, 
he said to his aid-de-camp, ''It will soon be my turn to 
follow them." 



274 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Louis Philippe opened the session of the Legislative 
Chambers on the 29th of December, 1847, with the usual 
pomp ; forty thousand bayonets keeping the crowd at gun- 
shot distance from the route traversed by the royal carriage, 
to preclude all possibility of another attempt at assassination. 
The ceremony took place in the Chamber of Deputies, 
which by one o'clock presented a most brilliant appearance. 
On the platform stood the throne, with crimson velvet stools 
on either side for the Princes, surmounted by crimson 
drapery, trimmed with gold, and crowned with tri-colored 
flags. One side of the hall was occupied by the Peers, 
in their richly embroidered costumes, the other side by the 
Deputies ; in front were seats for the higher crown officers, 
and all around were the fairer portion of the auditory, clad 
with that harmonious elegance for which the French ladies 
are so justly famed. Soon after the cannon of the Invalides 
had given notice that Louis Philippe had left his palace, 
he was announced, and the whole audience rose to receive 
him. He was followed by the Princes, and a numerous staff, 
who ranged themselves behind the throne and on the steps 
of the platform, presenting a serried mass of glittering 
uniforms, embroidery, and decorations. The King wore 
the uniform of a colonel in the national guard, and ap- 
peared quite dispirited — his voice, which on former occa- 
sions had ever been remarked for the richness of its 
modulations, was weak and inaudible — and his '* most 
hearty congratulations" upon the happiness and prosperity 
of the nation were received in silence. In the concluding 
paragraph were the expressions which cost him the throne^ 
which he then occupied for the last time : 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 275 

** Gentlemen, the more I advance in life, the more I dedicate 
with devotedness to the service of France, to the care of her 
interests, dignity, and happiness, all the activity and strength 
which God has given, and still vouchsafes me. Amidst the agita- 
tion which hostile and blind passions foment, a conviction animates 
and supports me, which is, that we possess in the constitutional 
monarchy, in the union of the great powers of the state, sure 
means of overcoming all those obstacles, and of satisfying all 
interests moral and material. Let us firmly maintain, according 
to the charter, social order and all their developments. We shall 
transmit unimpaired to the generations that may come after us the 
trust confided to us, and they will bless us for having founded and 
defended the edifice, under shelter of which they will live happy 
and free." 



The Deputies who had attended the reform banquets, as 
was to be expected, were indignant at being thus stigma- 
tized as promoters of anarchy and discord, by fomenting 
" hostile and blind passions." Smarting under the charge, 
they determined to attend a banquet in Paris itself, and 
then the struggle commenced^ by the disinterment by the 
Ministers of an obsolete police law of 1790, passed by the 
AssemhUe Nationale, proclaiming such assemblages illegal. 
Such a stretch of power as this, and the attempt to enforce 
such doctrines in the year 1848, not merely in France, 
but in Paris, sixty years after the first revolution, and 
eighteen after the second, was fraught with temerity and 
danger. Stormy debates ensued in the Chamber of Depu- 
ties, in one of which Guizot had thrown in his teeth an 
extract from one of his own speeches in 1831, when he 
said: — *'The association of citizens for the exercise or 
the defence of their constitutional rights, is indicated by 
the charter, and it cannot have any thing in it that is 
illegal. These associations may be grave, and even danger- 
ous for the government, but that is the fault of the gov- 
ernment itself; when it menaces these associations, it is 
in the wrong." Yet in 1848, this same man declared that 



276 RISE AND FALL 

all public meetings were illegal, and that he would not 
permit them. The Deputies received this reckless bravado 
with tumultuous cries, that seemed the forerunners of revo- 
lution. The Ministry was compared to that of Polignac, 
whose misdeeds led to the outbreak of 1830, which lost 
Charles X. his throne, and Odilon Barrot thundered forth 
from the tribune : " I wish to have my words recorded, and 
echoed to every extremity of the kingdom. Ministers of 
July, you have violated, and still continue to violate, a right 
which the Ministers of the Restoration respected, up to the 
day when they and the royal dynasty were overthrown 
together." 

The King followed up his injudicious course by ordering 
large military forces into Paris, but the preparations for the 
banquet went on in defiance of all his measures. Though 
France, notwithstanding two revolutions, wsls young in con- 
stitutional liberty, yet it could not be forgotten, that, under 
her ancient kings and despotical monarchy, she possessed 
her Assemhlee des Etats du Royaume, her Assemblees Ordi- 
naires des Etats, her Assemhlee des Etats d'un Province, 
and her Assemblees Generales d' Habitants. The kings of 
the first race, too, held assemblies, or great convocations, of 
their people on the 1st of March, which Pepin changed to 
the 1st of May ; and these continued till the tenth century, 
when, from the violence of the armed counts and barons, 
they became impossible. Under every phase of the ancient 
monarchy, the right to meet and to complain, under some 
shape or other, existed, and in the proces-verbal of that very 
AssembUe Nationale of 1790, from which the police law 
sought to prohibit these meetings, it was laid down by the 
great constitution-monger, the Abbe Sieyes, that " Un peuple 
a toujours le droit de revoir et de reformer la constitution." 
In the Bases de la Constitution, proposed in the same year 
by Rabaut de St. Etienne, it was also proclaimed that 
within the limits of the law " LViomme est libre dans ses 
discours, car la parole est libre comme la pensee;" yet it 



OF LOUIS riiiLipPE. 277 

was from such a liberal repertory as this that the indiscreet 
Ministry took their authority. To aggravate the matter, 
news had arrived since the difficulty commenced, of so 
startling a character as to change the political aspect of 
Europe. There had been a revolution in Sicily — a revolu- 
tion in Naples — a constitution granted to the Tuscans — 
and great concessions made to the Piedmontese. It was 
not the time to enslave France, or, as Lamartine well said, 
" to clap the hand of the policeman on the mouth of the 
country." 

Louis Philippe might at this time have maintained his 
throne by changing his Ministers, conceding a proper elec- 
toral reform, and promising to govern on a system less 
dynastic — but his obstinate counsellor persuaded him that 
nothing more than a mere emeuie could ensue, which the 
military could soon suppress. He listened to Guizot as 
Charles X. listened to Polignac, in 1830, and selected Mar- 
shal Bugeaud (the man who once roasted a tribe of Arabs 
to death) to enact the part Marmont then so feebly filled. 
Several regiments of picked men were added to the garri- 
son at Paris, and arrangements made, by which from 
70,000 to 80,000 men could, with the assistance of the 
railways, be brought in as a reinforcement. Artillery cais- 
sons rumbled through the streets, conveying auimunition to 
the numerous fortified guard-houses scattered over the city, 
which were also supplied with food, fuel and water enough 
to stand a six days' siege. Each company of infantry were 
supplied with axes, picks, and saws, in order to clear away 
barricades, and all the batteries of flying artillery were con- 
centrated at Vincennes, well supplied with canister and grape 
shot. Yet it was known that when General Jacqueminot 
called the colonels of the National Guard together, to 
question them as to the feelings of their battalions, he found 
that they were little disposed to sustain arbitrary power. 
Gen. Tiburce Sebastiani also questioned the higher officers 
24 



278 RISE AND FALL 

of the garrison as to the feelings of the army, and the 
answer was, that it was to be little depended on, if the 
National Guard should support the resistance to the prohibi- 
tions of the Ministers with respect to the Reform banquets. 
The King distributed large numbers of crosses of the 
Legion of Honor to the officers, invited a number of them 
to the Tuileries on Saturday evening, February 19th, and 
spoke of a general promotion, in reward for any services 
they might be called upon to render. Conversing with an 
American diplomatist who dined at the palace that even- 
ing, Louis Philippe alluded to the threatened troubles with 
an indifference verging upon gaiety, and even later this serene 
sentiment of security had not abated, although urgent rep- 
resentations of the danger that threatened, and of the ne- 
cessity of timely concessions, were made to him. 

It was, however, generally understood that government 
did not intend to stop the Banquets, but would permit the 
guests to assemble, while the opposition leaders, on their 
part, promised that if allowed so to do, they would obey the 
first summons to disperse, under protest, and the matter 
would then be brought before the courts of justice. Had 
this compromise been carried out, all would have gone on 
quietly ; but Armand Marrast, with several other radicals, 
determined to seize upon the moment for an outbreak, and 
issued a manifesto, calling out the National Guards in uni- 
form to join the procession. This changed the face of 
things, and the Minister of the Interior stated in the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, that although government had been inclined 
to allow the question of public assemblages to be settled judi- 
cially, it could not allow an imperium in imperio. The 
Banquet was forbidden. After this declaration, the Chamber 
at once adjourned until the next day, and the Opposition 
Deputies repaired to the house of Odilon Barrot, whence, 
after consultation, the following paragraph was sent to 
the evening paper, "ia Patrie : " — 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 279 

*' We stop the press to announce that the Opposition, not wish- 
ing to take, directly or indirectly, the responsibility for the conse- 
quences which may result from the new measures adopted to-day 
by the government, has resolved not to attend the proposed ban- 
quet to-morrow. The Opposition Deputies entreat the good citizens 
to abstain from all public assemblies, and from every proceeding 
which may afford a pretext for acts of violence. At the same 
time, the Opposition is sensible that the new measures taken by 
the Ministry impose on it new and grave duties, which it will not 
fail to fulfil." 

With this notice came proclamations from the police, 
forbidding the banquet, which were placarded on the walls, 
but soon torn dovv^n by the mob, who had read them and the 
"P«^He" by torchlight, forming a sight of wild interest all 
along the boulevards. It was by main struggle that a paper 
could be procured ; and so soon as the fortunate purchaser 
had fought his way back, with the paper crushed in his 
hand, to save it from being snatched away, he was sur- 
rounded by a number of anxious listeners, to whom he read 
the contents by the light of the nearest torch lamp, or shop 
window. In an incredibly short time, the papers had disap- 
peared, and not one was to be had. After a long interval, 
more papers were printed ; and the boys who carried 
them to the stands at which the evening journals are sold 
would be intercepted, and the papers forced from them by 
competitors, who seemed ready to pay any price. 

At an early hour on Tuesday morning, crowds of people 
began to throng the principal thoroughfares, most of them 
evidently belonging to the working classes, with many of 
those scowling, and, as the French say, sinistre faces which 
only show themselves in daylight at times of great popular 
convulsion. About twelve, a long procession of students 
arrived at the *' National,'^'' office, with the copy of a petition 
addressed by them to the Chamber for the impeachment of 
Guizot, and soon after a dense mass, mostly wearing bloi/scs, 
formed in the Rue Royale and marched to the Hotel des 



280 



RISE AND FALL 



Affaires Etrangh^es, singing the refrain of the Girondiii's 
death song in Dumas's drama : 

" Mourir pour la patrie, 
C'est le sort le plus beau, le pus digne d'envie." 

A body of Municipal Guards, under the direction of a 
commissary of police, succeeded in dispersing the crowd, 
who assembled from all quarters to join the students in the 
imprecations they heaped upon Guizot in front of his hotel. 
Thence the populace spread over the city, and began to 
organize a systematic opposition to the troops, by taking 
arms from the gunsmiths' shops, and throwing up barricades 
across the streets. The main point of interest was the 
Chamber of Deputies, which presented a gloomy aspect. 
Few Deputies were in attendance. The benches of the Op- 
position were completely vacant. Guizot arrived at an early 
hour J he looked pale but confident. He was followed by 
the Ministers of Finance, Public Instruction and Com- 
merce. Marshal Bugeaud, who was believed to have ac- 
cepted the military command of Paris, in the event of a revolt, 
took his seat close to the ministerial bench. The Cham- 
ber then resumed the adjourned discussion on the bill rela- 
tive to the renewal of the privileges of the Bank of Bor- 
deaux. At three o'clock Odilon Barrot entered the hall, 
accompanied by Messrs. Duvergier de Hauranne, Marie, 
Thiars, Garnier Pages, and shortly afterwards Duvergier 
de Hauranne went up to the President, and handed him 
a paper containing articles of impeachment against the Min- 
istry. It was at once shown to M. Guizot, who had the bad 
taste to affect to conceal his real anguish by a peal of inter- 
minable laughter. The Chamber soon adjourned, the Pres- 
ident having decided to take up the impeachment on 
Thursday. It ran thus : 



" We propose to place the Minister in accusation as guilty — 
1. Of having betrayed abroad the honor and interests of France. 



II 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 261 

*' 2. Of having falsified the principles of the constitution, violated 
the guarantees of liberty, and attacked the rights of the people. 

" 3. Of having, by a systematic corruption, attempted to substi- 
tute, for the free expression of public opinion, the calculations of 
private interest, and thus perverted the representative government. 

"4. Of having trafficked for ministerial purposes in public offices, 
as well as in all the prerogatives and privileges of power. 

" 5. Of having, in the same interest, wasted the finances of the 
state, and thus compromised the forces and the grandeur of the 
kingdom. 

" 6. Of having violently despoiled the citizens of a rightinherent 
in every free constitution, and the exercise of which had been 
guaranteed to them by the charter, by the laws, and by former 
precedents. 

" 7. Of having, in fine, by a policy overtly counter-revolutionary, 
placed in question all the conquests of our two revolutions, and 
thrown the country into a profound agitation. " 

That night Paris was filled with patrols, and several skir- 
mishes took place between them and the populace, in which 
three of the latter were shot dead, and others wounded ; at 
sunrise the drums of the National Guard were heard, beating 
the rappel. Composed in a great measure of traders, this 
important body were undoubtedly opposed to all revolution- 
ary movement, but their pride had been wounded by the 
distrust which had been shown the day previous, in not 
calling them out to maintain order. " A has Guizot f" was 
their cry, and at noon they set out on their march to the 
palace with the populace, to demand the dismissal of the 
Cabinet. In vain were the troops of the line sent to oppose 
them, for such dialogues as the following took place, as 
the populace would retreat behind their bayonets : " Who 
are these men?" asked an officer of cuirassiers. " They are 
the people," answered an officer of the National Guard. 
*' And those in uniform? " " They are the Second Legion 
of the National Guard of Paris." " The people must dis- 
perse." "They will not." "I shall use force." ''Sir, 
the National Guard sympathize with the people, the people 
24* 



283 RISE AND FALL 

who demand reform." "- They must disperse." *' They 
will not." " I must use force." '' Sir, we, the National 
Guards, sympathize in the desire for reform, and will defend 
them." 

" Vive Reforme ! " was the cry of the troops, who refused 
to act, and fraternized with the insurgents. When the re- 
quisition of this armed multitude reached the King, all 
resistance seemed to be at an end ; Count Mole was sent 
for to head a new Cabinet, and the Ministry of Guizot per- 
ished in presence of this anomalous and unexpected act of 
popular sovereignty. That system of absolutism, which 
Louis Philippe had for seventeen years spared neither pains, 
expense, nor chicanery to consolidate, was swept away as a 
spider's web by popular will, without the use of as many 
arms as would fill Diana's quiver, or any serious loss of life. 
Twenty-four hours sufficed for the monarchy of July to 
slide precipitate from the height it had so laboriously at- 
tained ; and the Prince who was dreaming but yesterday of 
the schemes of Louis XIV., the subjugation of Spain, the 
repression of Italy, the intervention in Switzerland, and the 
forcible coercion of the radical party at home, wakes the 
following morning in the rough harness and the equivocal 
position of the Citizen King. His humiliation, and the dis- 
missal of Guizot, appeared to give entire satisfaction. The 
city was illuminated spontaneously, and a feeling of relief 
seemed to pervade every bosom. The Hon. S. G. Goodrich 
wrote home : 

" There can be no doubt that, but for a fatal occurrence which 
soon after took place, the farther progress of the revolt would have 
been stayed. Many wise people now say, that the revolution was 
all planned beforehand ; they had foreseen and predicted it ; and 
from the beginning of the outbreak, every thing tended to this 
point. The fact is unquestionably otherwise. The opposition, 
with their various clubs and societies distributed through all classes 
in Paris, and holding constant communication with the ouvriers or 
blousemen, no doubt stood ready to take advantage of any violence > 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 283 

on the part of the government which might justify resistance, but 
they had not anticipated such a contingency on the present occa- 
sion. It is not probable that the Mole ministry would have 
satisfied the people ; but the King had yielded, Guizot, the special 
object of hatred, had fallen, and it was supposed that farther con- 
cessions would be made as concessions had been begun. But 
accident, which often rules the fate of dynasties and empires, now 
stepped in to govern the course of events, and give them a charac- 
ter which should astonish the world." 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF TOCaUEVILLE. 




284 RISE AND FALL 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The prospect of restoring order and tranquillity was any 
thing but pleasing to the ultra niembers of the Opposition, 
and a Republican Fourierite, named La Grange, (who had 
been condemned to imprisonment for taking part in the con- 
spiracy of 1832,) finding that affairs were likely to take a 
favorable turn for royalty after all, determined to make a 
desperate attempt to arouse the angry passions of the popu- 
lace against the military. Working his way through a large 
crowd in front of Guizot's hotel, comprising many persons 
drawn to the spot by curiosity, he fired a pistol at the troops 
on guard, and wounded the horse of the Lieutenant-Colonel 
in command. Thinking his party was attacked, that officer, 
without any reflection, or warning, rashly cried out " En 
feu — feu ! " and a fusillade followed which proved the fare- 
well salute to Louis Philippe's reign. Fifty-two persons, of 
all ages and sexes, fell, killed or seriously wounded, and 
every thing was then forgotten, save a blind desire of ven- 
geance for the slaughter of so many innocent persons. 
This the Republicans adroitly fanned, and those who wit- 
nessed the scene tell us how they placed the mangled bodies 
of seventeen victims on a tumbrel, their limbs disposed and 
their wounds displayed with artistic effect, and promenaded 
them all night through the streets of Paris by the lurid glare 
of torches. Over those bleeding corpses, like Antony's 
over the dead body of Coesar, incendiary harangues were 
delivered, which kindled in the people flames of indignation 
as inextinguishable as the Greek fire. Those bleeding wounds 
and burning words spoke, like fiery tongues, to the popular 
heart. Revenge ! to arms ! This was the universal cry, 
both deep and loud. The tocsin mingled its sinister knell 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 285 

with groans, impreccitions, and cries of indignation. The 
stones leaped, as it were, from the pavement; the trees of 
the boulevards were felled without remorse, and barricades 
without number sprung up as if by magic. Houses were 
entered for arms, not for plunder ; the railings were torn 
from the churches, to serve as pikes; and the night was 
passed in those terrible preparations which bespoke an event- 
ful morn. This dawned upon a city so fortified and so de- 
fended, that it could not have been taken by two hundred 
thousand resolute soldiers. The troops were silent, sad, 
and hesitating ; the populace full of rage, fire, and deter- 
mination ; the more sober citizens were breathless with 
agitation. Bloodshed was inevitable — traffic was impeded 
— most of the shops were closed — and, as during the great 
plague of London, the ejaculation " Lord have mercy upon 
us ! " was chalked upon the doors of those houses where the 
inhabitants were stricken with the pestilence, so the doors 
of most of the tenements in Paris were marked with the in- 
scription. ^' Ici on a donne les armes .' " as a protection from 
assault and pillage. 

The reformers of France now drew their swords, and 
a deadly conflict commenced, every quarter of the city 
resounding with the rattling fire of musketry and the roar 
of cannon. The Municipal Guards fought desperately in 
behalf of the King to the last, but the troops of the line 
gradually fraternized with the insurgents, giving up their 
arms and ammunition, until the Marseillaise was trium- 
phantly sung in nearly every one of the fifteen hundred 
barricades thrown up in different parts of the city. One 
of these hastily erected fortresses, and one of their defen- 
ders, are thus described by an eye-witness : — 

" At the point where the Rue Montmartre crosses the boulevard, 
the whole pavement was torn up, and something like a square 
breastwork was formed, in which a cannon was planted. The 
whole space around was crowded with the populace. As I stood 



286 RISE AND FALL 

for a moment, surveying the scene, a young man about twenty, 
pressed through the crowd, and, stepping upon the carriage of the 
carmefi, cried out, 'Down with Louis Philippe!' The energy 
with which this was spoken seemed to arrest general attention, 
and the remarkable appearance of the youth gave effect to his 
words. He seemed the very personification of revolution. He 
was short, broad shouldered, and full chested. His face was pale, 
his cheek spotted with blood, and his head, without hat or cap, 
was bound with a handkerchief. His features were keen, and his 
deep-set gray eye was lit with a spark that seemed borrowed from 
the tiger. As he left the throng, he came near to me, and I said 
inquiringly, ' Down with Louis Philippe 1 ' ' Yes ! ' was his 
reply. 'And what then?' said I. 'A Republic!' was his 
answer ; and he passed on, giving the watchword of ' Down with 
Louis Philippe' to the masses he encountered. This was the 
first instance in which I heard the overthrow of the King, and the 
adoption of a Republic, proclaimed." 

Mole having declined the task of forming a new ministry, 
the King had sent before sunrise for Thiers, who at eleven 
o'clock issued a proclamation announcing that Barrot, 
Lamorciere, de Hauranne, and himself had been created 
ministers. It also stated that orders had been given to 
suspend the firing, and ended with " liberty ! order ! union ! 
reform!" The night before, or even earlier in the day, 
this proclamation would have satisfied the Parisians, but 
they now knew their power, and stimulated by the Republi- 
cans, determined to guarantee the freedom within their 
grasp. A piece of duplicity on the part of the superior 
officers, who, instead of ordering the troops to their bar- 
racks, concentrated them around the royal palace, changed 
the popular indignation into fury, and from all parts of the 
capital immense bodies of insurgents, mingled with the 
National Guards, began to march upon the Palais Royal and 
the Tuileries. 

When the Duchess of Orleans, the most loved and 
popular woman in France, proceeded on foot to the Cham- 
ber, and placed herself and sons under the protection of 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 287 

the Deputies, they seemed touched with this proof of confi- 
dence. But ere the applause with which they greeted her 
had subsided, an omnious voice sounded from one of the 
galleries, solemnly and distinctly — " II est trop tard ! " It 
is too late ! The Dynasty and the Legislature were deposed 
by an armed crowd of the populace, who broke in upon 
their deliberations, — a combined repetition of what occurred 
in the Constituent Assembly on the 10th of August, 1792, 
and of the decisive blow struck by Bonaparte on the 18th 
Brumaire, when he turned the legislative body out of doors 
with his grenadiers. Some of the insurgents directed their 
muskets at the President, others ascended the tribune, tri- 
colored flags were waved, and the Chamber presented a scene 
of almost unimaginable violence, during which several of the 
members vainly endeavored to make themselves heard. At 
last Monsieur de Lamartine seemed to shake off the poet 
and the philosopher, and suddenly became a man of action. 
Ascending the tribune, he said : — 

" Gentlemen, I share in the sentiments of grief which just now 
agitated this assembly on beholding the most afflicting spectacle 
that human annals can present — that of a Princess coming for- 
ward with her innocent son, after having quitted her deserted 
palace, to place herself under the protection of the nation. But 
if I shared in that testimony of respect for a great misfortune, I 
also share in the solicitude — in the admiration which that people, 
now fighting two days against a perfidious government for the 
purpose of re-establishing order and liberty, ought to inspire. Let 
us not deceive ourselves — let us not imagine that an acclamation 
in this Chamber can replace the co-operation of thirty-five millions 
of men. Whatever government be established in the country, it 
must be cemented by solid definitive guarantees. How will you 
find the conditions necessary for such a government in the midst of 
the floating elements which surround us 1 By descending into the 
very depth of the country itself, boldly sounding the great mystery 
of the right of nations. Instead of having recourse to these sub- 
terfuges, to these emotions, in order to maintain one of those 
fictions which have no stability, I propose to you to form a 



288 RISE AND FALL 

government, not definite, but provisional — a government charged, 
first of all, w^iththe task of staunching the blood which flows, of 
putting a stop to civil war — a government which we appoint 
without putting aside any of our resentments and of our indigna- 
tion ; and in the next place, a government on which we shall 
impose the duty of convoking and consulting the whole peo- 
ple — all that possess, in their title of man, the right of a 
citizen." 

The Duchess of Orleans, seated between her two sons, 
had thus far preserved the most admirable self-possession, 
assured by Dr. Powell, of New York, and others around 
her, that there were no fears for her personal safety. But 
when she heard her son thus set aside, and saw him sur- 
rounded by a mob fierce with the passions of unrestrained 
triumph, brandishing their weapons, she must have realized 
one moment of the long martyrdom which his great-grand- 
father imposed upon Marie Antoinette. They were escorted 
from the Chamber by a private door, while the Duke of 
Nemours saved himself by jumping from a window. 

The entire contents of the Palais Royal were soon ruth- 
lessly demolished, and an attack commenced on the Chateau 
d'Eau, a strong military post occupied by the Municipal 
Guard, which formed apart of the defences of the Tuileries. 
After a desperate siege of two hours, the post was set on 
fire in the rear, and those of its brave defenders who had 
not been shot, were burned or suflfocated. The insurgents 
were now victorious, and the following proclamation was 
posted up : 

" Citizens of Paris — the King has abdicated. The crown be- 
stowed by the revolution of July, is now placed on the head of a 
child, protected by his mother. They are both under the safe- 
guard of the honor and courage of the Parisian population. All 
cause of division amongst us has ceased to exist. Orders have been 
given to the troops of the line to return to their respective quar- 
ters. Our brave army can be better employed than in shedding its 
blood in so deplorable a collision. 



OF LOUIS piiiLiprE. 289 

" My beloved fellow-citizens ! — From this moment the mainte- 
nance of order is intrusted to the courage and prudence of the peo- 
ple of Paris and its heroic National Guard. They have ever been 
faithful to our noble country. They will not desert it in this grave 
emergency. 

" Odilon Barrot." 

Immediately after the act of abdication was signed, the 
Duchess of Orleans, accompanied by her two sons, left for 
the Chamber of Deputies, and as the insurgents advanced 
upon the Tuileries, Louis Philippe and his family fled in 
different directions. No sooner had they left the palace, 
than it was taken by storm, the furniture and pictures 
destroyed, the windows and mirrors smashed, the wine in 
the cellars drunk, the throne carried to the site of the 
Bastille to be burned, and a wild saturnalia enacted, which 
Mr. Goodrich thus graphically describes : 

"I entered the palace, and passed through the long suite of 
apartments devoted to occasions of ceremony. A year before, I 
had seen these gorgeous halls filled with the great and the fair, 
the favored and the noble, gathered to this focal point of luxury, 
refinement and taste, from every quarter of the world. How 
little did Louis Philippe, at that moment, dream of ' coming 
events! ' How little did the stately Queen — a proud obelisk of 
silk and lace and diamonds — foresee the change that was at hand ! 
I recollected well the effect of this scene upon my own mind, and 
felt the full force of the contrast, which the present moment pre- 
sented. In the very room, where I had seen the pensive Princess 
de Joinville and the Duchess of Montpensier — then fresh from 
the hymeneal altar — her raven hair studded with a few diamonds, 
like stars of the first magnitude — whirling in the mazy dance — I 
I now behold four creatures like Caliban, gambolling to the song 
of the Marseillaise. • 

" On every side my eye fell upon scenes of destruction. Passing 
to the other end of the palace, I beheld a mad scene in the chambers 
of the Princesses. Some rolled themselves in the luscious beds, 
others anointed their heads with choice pomade — exclaiming, 
' Dieu — how sweet it smells!' One of the Ganiins, grimmed 
25 



290 RISE AND FALL 

with gunpowder, blood, and dirt, seized a tooth brush, and placing 
himself before a mirror, seemed delighted at the manifest improve- 
ment which he produced upon his ivory. 

" In leaving the palace, I saw numbers of the men drinking 
wine from bottles found in the cellars. None of them were posi- 
tively drunk — to use the words of Tam O'Shanter — ^ They 
were na' fou, hut just had plenty — perhaps a little more.' They 
flourished their guns and pistols, brandished their swords, and 
performed various antics, — but they offered no insult to any one. 
They seemed in excellent humor, and made more than ordinary 
display of French politeness. They complimented the women, of 
which there was no lack — and one of them, seeming like a figure 
of Pan, seized a maiden by the waist, and both rigadooned merrily 
over the floor. 

" I had previously had my attention directed to a small side door, 
about twenty or thirty steps on my right, opening out from the narrow 
passage behind the last row of benches, and I made up my mind that 
that was the only door which afforded any chance to the Princes 
to escape from the Chamber. Several times, during the speeches 
of Lamartine, I proposed to the National Guard in front of me to 
endeavor to remove the Duchess by that route, but he said ' there 
was no danger ! ' I was getting every moment more and more 
anxious on her account, and when at last the mob broke into the 
upper gallery, I saw no time was to be lost. Seizing her by the wrist 
with one hand, and pointing to the little door with the other, I 
cried out, ''Par ici, madame, par id T ' This way, madam, this 
way ! ' 

" The National Guard next to me, took up the Count of Paris in 
his arms, and another the Duke of Chartres, and we all advanced 
towards the little door. The little semi-circular passage soon became 
obstructed, as persons rushed up the other side passages for the 
same door, so that when we reached it, it was with much difficulty 
we got through. I kept only one step in advance of the Duchess 
all the time, determined to adhere to her to the last. This door 
proved to be at the top of a narrow staircase, down which we de- 
scended very rapidly, and when we reached the bottom, where 
there was a small lobby, the doors of which were shut, the crowd 
and press were so great that, at one time, I feared we should be 
suffocated or crushed to death. At last, however, we got a door 
open, and pressed through into a narrow corridor, along which we 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 291 

hurried the Duchess, and thence through several small rooms and 
passages, until finally, we arrived at a small library, where we 
placed her quite exhausted in a chair. After getting out of the 
lobby at the foot of the little staircase, it seems the party took 
different directions, and the children were separated from the 
mother. The first words of the Duchess after being placed in a 
chair were, ' My children ! my children ! where are they ! ' A gentle- 
man brought her a glass of water, but she said, ' I don't want any 
water, I only want my children ! ' All the persons around her (our 
own party consisting of six or eight, the rest having taken different 
directions) assured her that they must be safe, but she continued to 
clasp her hands and call for her children. A gentleman then left 
the room in search of them, and soon returned with the news that 
the Count of Paris was safe, whereupon the Duchess took his 
hand eagerly, and said she should never forget him. Soon another 
gentleman entered, saying that the Count of Paris was found and 
would soon be here, and in two or three minutes he was brought 
in the arms of a gentleman. The meeting of mother and child 
was very tender and affecting, and every body around was greatly 
touched. The little boy had been crying, and his face was red, 
and his cheeks wet with tears. A few minutes afterward, the Lady 
of Honor, whom I lost sight of since the middle of the session, en- 
tered with a gentleman, and the two ladips embraced each other 
very tenderly. The gentleman accompanying the lady assured the 
Duchess that the Duke of Chartres was safe, and after some dis- 
cussion it was determined to take the Duchess to the Invalides in 
a carriage. The next day she traversed France to Germany." 

After the departure of the Duchess of Orleans from the 
Chamber of Deputies the tumult increased, and while the 
disorder was at its height, Ledru Roilin read a list of 
the Provisional Government (which included himself,) and 
proposed adjourning to the Hotel de Ville. Here they met 
another Provisional Government, which had named itself at 
the office of the " Reforme,^^ and after some deliberation, ad- 
mitted them as secretaries, but they were received as members 
in a few days. The next morning's " Moniteur'^ contained 
the inaugural proclamation of these self-constituted rulers, 



292 RISE AND FALL 

the suQi^essors of Louis Philippe. To use an old French 
proverb, it was the beginning of the end : 

" To the French People. — A retrograde and oligarchical govern- 
ment has been overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. 

" The government has fled, leaving after it a trace of blood, which 
precludes for ever its return. 

" The blood of the people has flowed as in July ; but this time 
the generous blood shall not be deceived. It has achieved a 
national and popular government, to accord with the rights, the 
progress, and the will of this great and generous people. 

" A Provisional Government, sprung by acclamation and urgency 
from the voice of the people, and the Deputies of the departments 
in the sitting of the 24th, is invested momentarily with the care of 
the organizing and insuring the national victory. 

" When blood flows, when the capital of France is on fire, the 
commission of the Provisional Government is derived from the pub- 
lic peril and the public safety. The whole of France will under- 
stand it, and will afford it the concurrence of patriotism. Under 
the popular government proclaimed by the Provisional Govern- 
ment, every citizen is a magistrate. 

" Frenchmen, give the world the example that Paris has given to 
France ; prepare yourselves, by order and by confidence in your- 
selves, for the powerful institutions which you are to be called 
upon to give to yourselves. 

" The Provisional Government wills for a Republic, saving the 
ratification of the French people, which is to be immediately con- 
sulted. 

" Neither the people of Paris nor the Provisional Government 
pretends to substitute their opinion for the opinion of the citizens 
on the definite form of the government, which the sovereignty of 
the nation will proclaim. 

" The unity of the nation, formed henceforth of all the classes of 
the nation which compose it ; 

" The government of the nation by itself; 

** Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, for principles ; 

'* The People, for motto and mot d^ordre. 

" Such is the democratic government which France owes herself, 
and from which our efforts should be insured." 




FRANCIS ARAGO. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 



293 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Having been forced to descend from his throne by the 
very steps on which he had ascended to it — the barricades 
of Paris — Louis Philippe sought refuge in fleeing as do 
the '' wicked when none pursueth," instead of listening to the 
prayer of his noble-hearted wife, that he should " mount his 
horse, and die as a King." History has preserved the melan- 
choly passage of Louis XVL from that same Palace of the 
Tuileries to the Hall of the National Assembly on the 10th of 
August, 1792. Even Charles X., after having waged a most 
unequal fight in the streets of Paris, passed the days during 
which he remained at St. Cloud and Rambouillet like a 
King and a gentleman — though a defeated one. But Louis 
Philippe, at the head of ample resources, and with a Cham- 
ber of Deputies not adverse, but perfectly prepared to sup- 
port the Government, absconded from the back door in a 
vulgar equipage — dispersed his pusillanimous family, who 
had not even the spirit to stand by their own wives and chil- 
dren, and left the country, as far as he was concerned, to all 
the horrors of total anarchy. Twelve hundred years after 
the long haired Pharamond entered Paris in his slow pon- 
derous bullock-car, his degenerate successor left it in a one- 
horse carriage, at a furious gallop, nor do the intervening 
pages of history present such an example of reverse. Louis 
Philippe, (eloquently remarked the Hon. Edward Everett,) 
was '' sovereign but yesterday, of a kingdom stretching from 
Mount Atlas to the Rhine ; master of an army to bid de- 
fiance to Europe ; with a palace for every month, and a 
revenue of three millions of francs for every day in the year ; 
and to-day^ (let me not seem to trample on the fallen as I 
utter the words,) stealing with the aged partner of his throne 
25* 



294 



RISE AND FALL 



and of his fall, in sordid disguise, from his capital; without 
one of that mighty host to strike a blow in his defence, if not 
from loyalty, at least from compassion ; not daring to look 
round, even to see if the child was safe, on whom he had 
just bestowed the mockery of a crown ; and compelled to 
beg a few francs, from the guards at his palace door, to help 
him to flee from his kingdom ! " * 

Arriving at Dreux, Louis Philippe shaved off his whis- 
kers, discarded his wig, and altogether so disguised himself 
as to defy the recognition of even his most intimate friends. 
For a week the banished couple wandered about on the 
Norman coast, lodging in farmhouses, and passing as Mr. 
and Mrs. William Smith. At length they embarked on 
board a British steamer, one of whose officers communi- 
cated the following account of their voyage over the 
channel : 

" The vessel had been lying off Havre for two days, when ' an 
old man, apparently lame, dressed in a large travelling cloak, and 
his face nearly covered with a shawl, a pair of green spectacles, 
and a travelling cap, came on board, assisted by the British consul 
and Captain Goodridge. While coming on board, I heard the 
consul say to him, " Take care, uncle," as if he was speaking to a 
relative, and warning him to be careful how he stepped on the 
ladder. The passenger was immediately conducted to the engi- 
neer's room, (a most unusual place for a passenger to be shown 
into.) but, owing to its small size, and a fire burning in it, he was 
unable to remain there, and was obliged to go into the saloon. 
As soon as the old gentleman was on board, Captain Goodridge 
handed an elderly lady down the gangway. I heard her say to 
him, " I am obliged to you," and from her pronunciation I knew 
she was not an English woman. She was very plainly dressed. 
Her hair was as white as silver, and I thought I never saw a 
countenance in which anxiety, fatigue, and fear, were so visibly 
depicted. As soon as she was in the saloon, I could perceive that 



* Eulogy on John Q,uiney Adams. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 295 

she had been, and still was, weeping.' We need not say that it 
was the Ex-King and Queen. ' About midnight we were nearly 
run down by a large brig. No vessel ever had a more narrow 
escape than ours. We were within three or four yards of the 
brig. Fortunately we were going at about half speed. The noise 
and confusion on deck arising from this disaster aroused the pas- 
sengers. Her Majesty rushed out from her cabin into the saloon, 
exclaiming, "Oh, where is my dear gentleman ! " The King 
endeavored to console her. She embraced him affectionately, 
crying bitterly, and talked to him, lamenting that his dangers were 
not yet over, notwithstanding the many he had escaped. The 
King was much affected, and he wept and sobbed violently. Her 
Majesty was implored to return to her cabin, but she declared that 
she would not again leave the King, and she lay down by his side, 
on the floor of the saloon, during the remainder of the night.' " 

By a curious coincidence, Louis Philippe landed at New 
Haven, (the very harbor where, but a few months before, 
his sailor-son had proposed to disembark an army of inva- 
sion,) and emphatically exclaimed as he set his foot upon 
the shore, " Thank God, 1 am on British ground." He was 
entirely destitute of baggage, and had not been shaved for 
a week. He wore a rough pea-jacket — borrowed of the 
captain of the Express — and grey trousers ; had on his 
head a close blue cloth cap, and round his neck a common 
red-and-white *' comforter." The Queen was muffled in a 
large plaid cloak, and carefully concealed her features with 
a thick veil. 

The Princes and Princesses, who had landed one by one 
m England like foreign birds dashed by a storm against a 
lighthouse, had taken up their temporary residence with 
Mr. Joshua Bates, (an American gentleman in Baring's 
banking firm,) at East Sheen, in Surrey county, about ten 
miles from London. On the arrival of their parents, who 
had assumed the title of the Count and Countess of Neuilly, 
they all removed to Claremont House, a few miles farther 
from the city, in the same county, the English residence of 



296 RISE AND FALL 

Leopold, King of the Belgians. Again among the scenes 
of his youth, Louis Philippe found himself once more the 
banished son of Egalite, " an old man, broken with the 
storms of state," and his frequent exclamation, " like 
Charles X.," betrays the remorseful current of his thoughts. 
He read, as recorded in Scripture — " We are verily 
guilty concerning our brother — therefore is this distress 
come upon us." 

The rise and fall of Louis Philippe is an impressive 
commentary upon the vi^ords of the Psalmist, "Put not your 
trust in princes." Never did a monarch commence his 
reign more auspiciously, for his strong intellect had been 
tempered in prosperity and adversity under a monarchy, 
an anarchy, a democracy, an empire, and again a monarchy, 
while the enthusiastic people were devoted to his support. 
Never did a ruler more completely falsify the confiding 
hopes of his countrymen. From his childhood he has 
known no motive but interest, no criterion but success, no 
deity but ambition, and when by complicated intrigue " he 
from a shelf the precious diadem stole," he slipped it into 
his pocket, unsparingly sacrificing the moral and material 
interests of the French people to a miserable nepotism. 
Ambition, that redeeming vice of sovereigns, was but in 
him a miser's clutching of gold — paternal love, a scheming 
desire to make "profitable matches" for his children, 
though in so doing, he outraged humanity and alienated his 
firmest allies — peace, a self-interested desire to promote the 
main chance — public virtue, according to his creed, should 
only exist in name — popular rights, not only natural and 
inalienable, but recognised, were not to be regarded — 
popular interests were to be sacrificed to his own private 
ends — truth, said to have taken refuge in the breasts of 
princes, had evidently done so in this instance to be 
smothered by hypocrisy and deceit. This severe judgment 
was pronounced by the outraged Parisians at the cannon's 
mouth, written in characters of blood, and exhibited by the 



OF LOUIS PHILirPE. 



297 



torchlight of rebellion. But it is yet to be seen whether this 
event is a progressive step in the march of rational liberty. 
Recent incidents seem to indicate that France is little better 
prepared for constitutional freedom than she was sixty years 
ago. How far this ominous aspect of the nation is to be 
referred to the selfishness, avarice, falsehood and nepotism 
of Louis Philippe, the reader of the preceding narrative can 
determine. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 




NOTES. 



[Note A.] 
THE HOUSE OF ORLEANS. 

The Orleans family is the cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, which 
took its name from the Duchy of Bourbon, conferred upon a branch of the 
royal family of France, some centuries since. By marriage, the Bourbons 
became connected with the King of Navarre, a small independent sove- 
reignty in the Pyrenees, on the borders of France and Spain ; and on the 
extinction of the male line of the royal family of Navarre, the Bourbon in- 
herited the throne of that little kingdom, and occupied it until, on the 
death of the last De Valois (Henry HI.) the crown of France also became 
the hereditary right of Henry De Bourbon, King of Navarre. After a vio- 
lent civil war, principally caused and maintained by the hostility of a large 
portion of the French nobility and people to the Protestant faith, which was 
professed by Henry De Bourbon and his adherents, he succeeded in estab- 
lishing himself in undisputed possession of all his hereditary rights, as 
Henry IV., King of France and Navarre. From him all the kings of 
France since the close of the sixteenth century, and all the royal Bourbons 
are lineally descended. Henry IV. died in the vigor of life, (assassinated 
by a Romish monk, and left an infant son, — who became King Louis 
XIII., and is best known in history from having had Cardinal Richelieu 
for his Minister and master. To him succeeded Louis XIV., whose eldest 
son, bearing the title of Dauphin, died before him, leaving a son who also 
died with the same title, leaving also a son, who, at the close of the very 
long life and reign of Louis XIV., (his great-grandfather,) finally inherit- 
ed the throne, with the title of Louis XV., — and being a mere boy, re- 
mained for several years in tutelage, while his kingdom was governed in 
his name by a Regent. 

This regent was Philippe, grandson of Louis XIV., and son of his 
second son, on whom had been bestowed the title of Duke of Orleans, 
which had been created long before as an appanag-e for the cadet branch ; 



300 THE HOUSE OF ORLEANS. 

but though hereditary, it had uniformly returned to the crown, either by the 
death of the Duke without issue, or by his accession to the throne on the 
failure of the elder line. The first Duke of Orleans was Gaston John Bap- 
tista, second son of Marie of Medicis and the renowned Bourbon, who, 
after the death of the last De Valois, (Henry III.) ascended the throne as 
Henry IV., King of France and Navarre. On espousing, in 1626, Mary of 
Bourbon, daughter and heiress of Henry, Duke of Montpensier, Gastou 
received as an appanage the Dukedom of Orleans, and commenced those 
political intrigues for which the house has been since famed. Plotting 
against Richelieu, he left the Court in 1631, joined Montmorency, and 
meeting the armies of his brother at Castelnaudari was defeated. Par- 
doned by King Louis, he a second time took up arms, was again forgiven, 
and subsequently engaged^ in . the Cinq Martian conspiracy. The king 
pardoned him a third time, and appointed him on his death-bed Lieutenant 
General of the kingdom during the minority of his heir, Louis XIV. 

The Regent, Philippe's mother, was Elizabeth Charlotte of Bohemia, 
grand-daughter of James I. of England. From this lady the Orleans family 
are descended, and through her trace a direct relationship to the line of Stu- 
art, and the present royal family of England. Corrupted early in life by his 
tutor, Dubois, Philippe enjoyed the reputation of being the most systemati- 
cally profligate man at the licentious court of Versailles, gathering around 
him a set of infamous debauchees, to whom he gave the name of " 7'oues," 
(meaning " wheeled," or " broken on the wheel ") because, as he is report- 
ed to have said, " there was not one who did not deserve to be broken on 
the wheel," for his wickedness. Yet, though the most extravagant as well 
as dissolute man of his time, he managed to add to the hereditary value of 
the House, and built the Palace Royal, so called, though it was never the 
residence, or even the property of a reigning king, until 1830. In 1715, he 
was declared Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV., and 
under his administration the Mississippi scheme of the Scotchman, Law, 
reduced the people to beggary and despair. In 1723, when the King entered 
upon the discharge of his royal functions, Philippe was made Prime Minis- 
ter, but died in the same year. 

The Regent, Philippe, was succeeded by his son, Louis, inferior to him 
in intellect, but even superior to him in wickedness. He married Henri- 
etta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and undoubtedly poisoned 
her ; remorse for which act afterwards led him to abandon the world, and 
give himself up to a life of penitence, austerity, religion, and literature. 
He retired to the Abbey of St. Genevieve, and there died, an accomplished 
scholar, especially in Hebrew and the cognate tongues, as well as a great 
master of botany and chemistry. He was succeeded by his son, Louis 
Philippe, the father of Louis Philippe, Ex-King of the French. His eldest 
son being killed in 1842, the present head of the House of Orleans is Louis 
Philippe Albert of Orleans, Count of Paris, born at Paris, on the 24th of 
August, 1838. 



m'lLES DE FERNIG. DUPONT DE l'eURE. 301 

[Note B.j 
THE MADEMOISELLES DE FERNIG. 

These young heroines were the daughters of a quarter-master of cavalry, 
who, after their father's house in Flanders had been burned by the Aus- 
trians, accompanied the troops until they had attained a certain degree of 
attachment to military exploits, and even an enthusiasm against the invad- 
ing enemy. Dressed in male attire, they headed detachments with the 
bold spirit of Joan d'Arc, although, unlike her, they pretended neither to 
prophecy nor to revelation. " Tasso," says Lamartine, "never invented in 
Clorinda more heroism, more of the marvellous, and more love than the 
Republic was compelled to admire in the exploits and in the destiny of 
these two heroines of liberty." 

Dumouriez, who never let slip any occasion of inspiring his army with 
confidence, invited these ladies lo the camp at Maulde, giving them the 
rank of aids-de-camp, and making their father captain of his guide-com- 
pany. After the battle of Jemappes, he made such a flattering report to 
the Convention of their intrepidity and good conduct, that they received a 
house, land, and sabres d'honneur, as a present from the Republic. 

Felicite is said to be the only woman Louis Philippe ever loved, but his 
passion was soon absorbed by schemes of ambition. 



[Note C] 
DUPONT DE L'EURE. 

Jacques Dupont, surnamed De I'Eure, to distinguish him from the 
families of Dupont de I'Etang and Dupont de Nemours, was born at Neu- 
bourg, in Normandy, on the 27th of February, 1767. He devoted himself 
early to the study of law, became Parliamentary Advocate for his native 
province, and at the age of twenty-five was chosen Mayor. During the 
revolution and the empire he held various offices of trust and power, in 
all of which he displayed great rectitude of principle, and possessed the 
entire confidence of the government. In the year VIII., (Revolutionary 
style,) he was a member of the Council of Five Hundred — under 
Napoleon he was Chief Justice of the Rouen Circuit — in 1813, he was 
chosen President of the Legislative Assembly — in 1815 he proposed the 
famous Declaration of the Rights of Citizens, and as Deputy during the 
reign of Charles X. he is mentioned by Louis Blanc, along with Lafitte, 
the Abbe Gregoire, D'Argenson, and Tarayre, as " five Deputies who be- 
longed to the people by their sympathies." 

Lafayette ever loved him as a brother, and after the Revolution of 1830, 
nominated him Minister of Justice, but he resigned on discovering how 
Louis Philippe had deceived his adherents, determined not to aid him in 
subjecting France to a rule more tyrannical than the yoke it had thrown 

26 



303 THE BARONESS DE FEUCHERES. 

off — although the " King of the Barricades " called himself a Democrat. 
Refusing a seat offered him on the Bench of the Court of Appeals, he stur- 
dily opposed the government, and wrote some very able articles against 
its usurpations. At the election of 1842, indignant at seeing the Deputies 
of his native department "of the Eure," who had sustained Guizot, about 
to be re-elected without opposition,, he offered himself as a candidate to 
four districts simultaneously — was elected in all four — and chose that of 
Evreux. Entering in early life upon his political course, in possession of a 
quality than which there is scarcely a higher attainable — the power by 
which, when the judgment has worked its way to certain fixed conclusions, 
they are no longer permitted to he matters of speculation or uncertainty, 
but are invested with entire supremacy over the conduct, M. Dupont is one 
of the few co?isis^eni politicians in France. It is this high quality which 
has given him an earnestness and simplicity of purpose, which, with his 
undeviating directness of aim, has made him a great man, though he is 
not possessed of great abilities. Having settled himself in living convic- 
tions of right, they became the established laws of his moral being, nor 
could frowns or allurements seduce him from his integrity. When he ad- 
dressed the multitude at the Column of July, on the inauguration of the 
Provisional Government, "Listen," shouted Arago, " It is eighty years of 
a pure life that speaks to you," — a far better expression than the forty 
centuries looking down from the Pyramids on the French army. 



[Note D.] 
THE BARONESS DE FEUCHERES. 

•This vilest ally of Louis Philippe was the daughter of John Daw, and 
one of a family of ten children, who were inmates of the workhouse in the 
Isle of Wight, from 1796 to 1805, when Sophia was put out as a parish 
apprentice. She was afterwards sent to London as an apprentice to a 
milliner there, and her resistless beauty soon proved her ruin. For some 
years she was the reigning courtezan of the city, and the exiled Duke of 
Bourbon coming within the influence of her attractive charms, the last of 
the proud race of Conde became the devoted slave of the English fisher- 
man's daughter. When he returned to France to resume his ancestral 
dignities, the object of his affection shared his elevation, and was enthroned 
mistress of the Palace Bourbon, the successor of a long line of titled dames, 
whose very pictures must have frowned as they looked down upon her, 
flaunting in the ancient hall, the scene of their past triumphs. 

In 1818, the Baron de Peucheres, aid-de-camp to the Duke, a young and 
gallant soldier, possessed of every advantage that nature and high rank 
could bestow to render him an object of interest in the eyes of the fair and 
courtly, was struck with her beauty, and proposed for her hand. The Duke 
of Bourbon, anxious to promote the ambitious views of his mistress, and 
obtain for her a recognised rank and position^ eagerly consented. The 



THE BARONESS DE FEUCHERES. 



303 



young nobleman, blinded by his love to the real relation between the ob- 
ject of his afleclions and the Duke, and receiving from the latter the posi- 
tive assurance that Miss Dawes was his natural daughter, made her his 
wife, and she became the Baroness de Feucheres. The Baron, with the 
frank confidence of a noble nature, trusting in the honor of his master, 
became the victim of an unprincipled prince and an ambitious, designing 
woman. The transaction is unequalled for its baseness, and never was the 
altar more desecrated than by this unholy marriage. There stood the 
licentious Duke, in the false character of a father, ihe unchaste woman in 
the borrowed garb of purity, deceit and falsehood personified, the dark 
shades of a revolting picture thrown into broader contrast by the bright 
beaming virtue of the young Baron de Feucheres. 

It was not long before the Baron was awakened to a suspicion of llie 
true position of his wife. He sought an interview with the Duke of Bour- 
bon, and spoke boldly of his wrongs, but left his presence assured of the 
innocence of the Baroness and the injustice of his suspicions. His senti- 
ments of lo}'alty forbade him to suspect the honor of his prince. He did 
not, however, remain long in suspense ; vexed by his own doubts and the 
whisperings of his friends, so galling to a man of spirit. 

His wife became the witness of her own dishonor; in a moment of rage 
she confessed that she was the mistress of the Duke, and that she had ever 
been devoted to his passions. The Baron de Feucheres hurried to the pre- 
sence of the Duke of Bourbon, and boldly reproached him with his wrongs. 
He relumed his commission, and resigned the various lucrative offices, for 
which he had been indebted to the patronage of the Prince, and resolved to 
leave the scene of his dishonor. The Duke alternately availed himself of 
threats and promises to change his purpose, but he was inflexible. He 
abandoned the service of the Duke and the worthless Baroness forever. 

His wife witnessed his departure without a passing regret. She had no 
sorrow to expend upon the absence of one whom she had neverloved. She 
had gained her purpose, and the instrument of her advancement was of no 
longer service. His presence served only to constrain her relations with 
the Duke, and bis reproaches to embitter her life of pleasure, aad to dis- 
turb her wanton repose. The Baroness, with the additional eclat of her 
separation from her husband, continued to lead a life of gaiety and fashion. 
Her influence over the Duke of Bourbon increased with his years, until 
that relation which had been sought to bring pleasure, became an insuffer- 
able burthen. The Duke, wearied with the importunities of his mistress, 
and impatient of her control, sought refuge in death. He was found killed 
by his own hand in his bed-chamber, though there were not wanting sus- 
picions of foul play. He left the greater part of his immense possessions, 
diminished only by his bounties to the Baroness, and to the Duke 
d'Aumale, the third son of the Ex-King of France. 

Louis Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, ever alive to the personal interests 
of his family, Avas known to have intrigued with the Baroness de Feucheres, 
for the purpose of directing his influence upon the Duke of Bourbon, to his 
own advantage. He was desirous of addina; the immense fortunes of the 



504 



BERANGER. 



House of Conde to those of Orleans. He industriously courted the friend- 
ship of the Baroness; she was ft constant guest at the Palais Roj^al, and his 
family bestowed upon her every attention that could flatter her vanity and 
obtain her good will. Through the influence of the Duke of Orleans, she 
was admitted at Court, the object of her highest ambition. The Duke of 
Bourbon shared, with most of his family, a jealous suspicion of the Orleans 
branch. The political treason of King Egalite, the father of Louis Philippe, 
served to destroy all cordiality between his family and the Bourbons. The 
Duke of Bordeaux, the legitimate successor by hereditary right to the 
throne of France, was the nearest heir by law to the succession of the 
Condes, and would have probably succeeded to the possessions of the Duke 
of Bourbon had not this, natural disposition of his fortunes been counter- 
acted by the influence of the Baroness de Feucheres. The Duke of Orleans 
was anxious to have obtained for himself or his eldest son the succession, 
but the Duke of Bourbon could not be prevailed upon to conform to his 
ambitious views. As a compromise to satisfy the importunities of his 
mistress and his own prejudices, he declared the Duke of Aumale his 
heir, rendering him the richest man in Europe after his father. The char- 
acter of Louis Philippe gains no credit in connection with these facts, and 
his political enemies of the ISational and the Gazette de France, the expo- 
nents of the extreme opinions in France, have not spared their reproaches. 
The Baroness de Feucheres, after the death of the Duke of Bourbon, 
abandoned by her friends, and finding that society in which she had acted 
so prominent a part, a desert of friendship and affections, retired to Lon- 
don, to enjoy in private life the bounties of the Duke. She resided in great 
style in a house in Hyde Park Square until December, 1840, when she 
died, and her property became the subject of litigation. Her husband, the 
Baron de Feucheres, claimed a right to the property, which right he ceded. 
to the Hospitals of Paris, (unwilling to enjoy the wages of sin.) The case 
has been decided in the courts of law of London and Paris, in favor of 
the heirs of the Baroness. 



[Note E.] 

BERANGER. 

The present volume having already been swelled beyond its projected 
limits, the compiler reluctantly finds himself obliged to relinquish his in- 
tention of giving biographical sketches of all the prominent Frenchmen of 
Louis Philippe's reign, and must content himself with a mere glance at a 
few of them. Generally speaking, the life of a French notable is in a great 
measure hut a chronicle of repeated tergiversations, oaths taken to support 
new governments, followed by treasonable plots to overthrow them — but 
there is one bright exception. Beranger, the printer-poet, born in a garret 
at Paris ow. the 1 7th of June, 1780, has, for many years, wielded a greater 
influence with his simple lays than did Napoleon, Charles X., or Louis 
Philippe, with their imperial, absolute, oy constitutional sceptres, and yet 



CHATEAUBRIAND. GERARD. S05 

lie has nobly refused all honors, places, and emoluments. Mingling the 
quaint, heroic, bacchanalian, and political, he enlists the senses of the 
French by glowing strains, and then entering the mind by a soul-stirring 
burthen, wins the heart by noble and daring thoughts. His ballads arc the 
lullabies of the infant, the carols of the child, the serenades of the lover, the 
toil-cheerers of the artisan, the stirring odes of the politician, the lay of 
the belle, the chorus of the actor, and, — above all, — the terror of the 
tyrant. Popular as was old Homer in the cities of Greece, Beranger has 
laughed alike at the terrors of imprisonment and the seductions of power, 
and, since the overthrow of Louis Philippe, (whom he so cordially hated,) 
has refused the senatorial purple, preferring to remain a simple chanson- 
nier (as he styles himself) in his modest retreat at Passy, near the metrop- 
olis. One present at the burial of the victims of February, 1848, describes 
him as a little bald-headed, humble looking, old man, whose whole mien 
denoted one unaccustomed to the pomp and circumstances of such scenes, — 
he had no badge of office, no mark of distinction, yet there was not a man 
in that vast crowd of half a million, who had a better right to a place 
among the nobles of the land. 



[Note F.] 

CHATEAUBRIAND. 

Chateaubriand refused to take the oath of allegiance to Louis Philippe in 
1830, and was consequently deprived of his seat in the Chamber of Peers, 
with its yearly salary of twenty-four hundred dollars. This only made 
him more chivalrously devoted to the fallen Bourbons, — the restoration of 
the Duke of Bordeaux occupying the first place in his thoughts. Next 
come his own Memoirs, to be published after his death, and going back to 
1739 — thus embracing an epoch, which the French say has witnessed more 
glory, and heavier reverses, than any three centuries in their history. The 
extracts from it read at the weekly receptions of Madame Recamier, show 
that the author has concealed no part of his life, and has not spared his 
contemporaries. He has described himself as a traveller, a sceptic, a 
believer, a poet, a philosopher, a Christian, a Frenchman, a royalist, an 
advocate of freedom, a gentleman, a citizen, a soldier, a historian, an actor 
in the days of strife, a confidential minister of powerful monarchs, and a 
faithful defender of fallen kings. It is, in short, Chateaubriand — young 
and old, — his passions, pleasures, fancies, losses, despair, — the soul, the 
mind, the heart. 



[Note G.] 

GERARD. 

Stephen Maurice Gerard enlisted in 1792 as a private in the French 
army, where he soon attracted the notice of Bernadotte, and afterwards 
became one of Napoleon's favorite generals. Nearly all the hard fought 

26* 



306 LOUIS. DE BROGLIE. 

fields of the imperial campaigns witnessed his military talent and hraveiy, 
and at Ligny, the last of Napoleon's victories, he performed prodigies of 
valor. A true friend of constitutional liberty, he refused to accept ofSce 
under the Bourbons, and ere he died, publicly expressed his deep regret 
that he had aided in sealing Louis Philippe on the throne. 



[Note H.] 

LOUIS. 

Baron Louis commenced his public career in the diplomatic service of 
Louis XVI., but soon went into the treasury department, which he di- 
rected, with some intervals, under Napoleon and the Bourbons. By 
accepting the same post under Louis Philippe he contributed to the resto- 
ration of public confidence and credit ; but afterwards became so much dis- 
gusted with the Citizen-King's course, that he ordered all his government 
stock to be sold, as unsafe property under such an administration. 



[Note L] 
DE BROGLIE. 

Achille Charles Leonce Victor, Duke de Broglie, was born in 1785, and 
was only in his ninth year when his father died on the scaffold. His first 
studies were conducted at the Central School of Paris. In very early life 
he applied himself closely to literary pursuits; and while yet a youth, he 
had already attained some distinction as a writer in the public journals. 
His youthful style was marked by a certain roughness and vigor of diction, 
which foretold that firmness of character so conspicuous in the man of 
mature years. The young De Broglie had already attracted a large share of 
public attention, when Napoleon offered him a commission in the army, but 
he declined on the plea that his studies and his tastes pointed at the civil 
service of the state. On which Napoleon turned indignantly to those 
about him, and exclaimed — " Le croiriez-vous, Messieurs ? J-ai offert 
une epee d un Jeune homme qui conte trois Marechaux de France dans sa 
famille, et il me demande une plume ! " When the Conseil d'Etat was 
established, M. de Broglie was attached, as auditor to the department of 
foreign relations. But his strictly diplomatic career may be said to have 
been commenced at the embassy of Varsovie, under the celebrated Abbe 
de Pradt. 

In 1815, M. de Broglie resumed his seat in the Chamber of Peers, which 
(being at once too liberal and too aristocratic) he had repudiated during tlie 
Hundred Days. He took part in the proceedings relative to Marshal Ney ; 
and to his immortal honor, he was one of the three or four who were alone 
found to vole against the decree of death, in an assembly which contained 
not fewer than forty of the companions in arms of the accused. 



MOLE. 307 

It was about this period that M. de Broglie married M'lle de Stael, who 
was heiress to two millioas of francs, which had been lent by her grand- 
father, M. Necker, to Louis XVI., and had been reimbursed by the re- 
stored government. Madame de Stael herself is said to have been peculiarly 
gratified by this union, which solved the grand problem at which she had 
aimed — that of obtaining for son-in-law a high aristocrat, who was also 
an accomplished man of letters, and an actual Duke, who was at the same 
time a " Liberal." 

From 1830 to 1836, M. de Broglie was almost the whole time in the 
Ministry ; but quarrelling with Guizot, he could not afterwards be per- 
suaded to accept a portfolio. He has for some years been at the head of 
the French Abolitionists, and at the time of the overthrow of Louis Phi- 
lippe was Minister at London, a post which he had accepted in order to 
carry out his schemes for the amelioration of the condition of the negro 
population in the West Indies. 



[Note K.] 
MOLE. 

Louis Mathieu Mole was born in 17S0. At the commencement of the 
Revolution he emigrated with his father, but returning to France without 
permission, they were arrested; the father died on the scaffold, and young 
Mole was set at liberty. Although threatened with death, Ptlole refused 
divulging the secret residence of his mother, his sister, and the Marcliion- 
ess of Lamoignon, his grandmother. Not feeling in security in France, 
Mole and his family retired into Switzerland, and from thence to England. 
At the death of Robespierre he re-entered France. 

In 1806 Mole was named by Napoleon auditor to the Council of State, 
and pleasing his imperial master, rose in ofRce, until in 1813 he was 
named Minister of Justice. The Bourbons created him a Peer of France 
after their restoration, and in the month of August, 1817, he was named 
Minister of Marine, but was obliged to retire at the end of the first ses- 
sion. In 1820 he separated himself from the Ultra-Royalists ; in 1822 took 
his seat in the Chamber of Peers, during the administration of M. Villele, 
on the benches of the Opposition. 

The 7th of August, 1830, in the first Ministry named by Louis Philippe, 
Mole took the portfolio for Foreign Affairs, and assured Europe of his 
determination to preserve peace ; he at the same time laid down the princi- 
ple of non-intervention, and Talleyrand proposed the Quadruple Alliance. 
Mole remained only three months in office, and was replaced by M. Sebas- 
tiani. In the month of September, 1833, Mole formed an administration 
with Guizot, but was driven from office by Thiers and Soult. 

On the 15th of April, 1842, Mole formed an administration which lasted 
two years, but was overthrown by the King, whose selfish plans he refused 
to carry out, and thenceforth he rarely mingled m the discussion of politi- 



308 SEBASTIANI. THIERS. 

cal subjects. Mole was the personal friend and political counsellor of the 
Duke of Orleans, and advocated a conciliatory policy, which would com- 
bine in harmonious action monarchical and liberal principles — the only 
form of isrovernment suitable for Franc6. 



[Note L.] 
SEBASTIANI. 

Marshal Sebastian! is a Corsican by birth, and was educated in a dra- 
goon regiment, where he attracted the notice of Napoleon, to whom he 
remained constant until his death, constantly opposing the Bourbons. He 
was obliged to leave the Ministry in 1834, so strong was, public feeling 
against him for the part he took in concluding the treaty which bound 
France to pay the twenty-five million of francs' indemnity to the United 
States, but afterwards filled several diplomatic stations. 

The Marshal was terribly bereaved by one of the fatal demonstrations of 
that licentious libertinism which existed in Paris under Louis Philippe. 
His daughter, the Duchess de Praslin, was most atrociously murdered by 
her husband, who, by the device of the King, was permitted to poison him- 
self, the whole affair forming a horrible tragedy. 



[Note M.] 
THIERS. 

Louis Adolphe Thiers was born on the 16th of April, 1797, at Marseilles, 
where his father was a locksmith. Distinguishing himself at school, he 
went to Paris as a literary adventurer, and obtaining a situation as assistant 
editor of a political journal, soon became a leading man, and did much to 
accomplish the overthrow of the Bourbons. He was several times named 
Minister, whenever Louis Philippe wished to encourage the war spirit, and 
each time continued to involve France in some quarrel which would lead to 
hostilities. Through his bellicose propensities, Louis Philippe was enabled 
to cajole the Chambers into the erection of the fortifications of Paris. 

Thiers's greatest source of popularity is his History of the Revolution, 
with its continuation, all displaying the author's innate love of power, and 
a tacit aversion from the principles of radicalism, which elevated him from 
his obscure origin. Ushered into public life by a civil war, and cradled 
amongst all the vicissitudes of the last half century, he finds a congenial 
excitant in describing the bloody scenes and propagating the principles of 
the French Revolution, The evident aim of the last series, " The Consu- 
late and the Empire," is to impress on all whom it may concern (and whom, 
in civilized Europe, does it not concern?) that the Revolution of 1789 is 
still in progress in 1845 — that it is just and fitting, for the well-being of 
mankind, that it should continue to progress — that the war which "the 



GUIZOT. 



309 



child and champion " of this Revolution waged with Europe for its ad- 
vancement, was not merely a wise and necessary, but a holy war — that 
the despotism of the Empire was no less wise, necessary, and holy — that 
the downfall of that despotism was merely an unlucky accident, which the 
innate and invincible force of the "principles" in question has already 
overcome — and that, in point of fact, we have only now arrived at " le 
commencement de la Jin." (M. Thiers, it will be recollected, was the pet 
and pupil of him who originated this mot.) 

Such, in brief, is the political bearing of Thiers's works — such is the 
political confession of faith of its writer — that writer being the statesman, 
who has not been merely lying in wait, day by day, to seize the reins of 
government of the country he treats of, but almost certain of seeing them 
either drop into his hands, for lack of the power of others to hold them, or 
forced upon him by popular. feeling in his favor. A proof of this is to be 
found in his own words, as applied to his idol, and in some sort his model, 
at the moment when he was on the point of assuming the supreme poAver 
in France, on his return from Egypt. " Less glory " — (glory and popu- 
larity are controvertible terms in France) — "Less glory than he (Na- 
poleon) had acquired would have sufficed to enable a man to seize the reins 
of government. ^^ Here is the key to the brilliant compositions of Thiers, 
if key one may call the peculiar instrument usually carried by a certain 
unscrupulous class of the community, and sometimes impolitely denom-i- 
nated a picklock. 



[Note N.] 

GUIZOT. 

The son of a victim to the guillotine of Robespierre, Francis Andrew 
Guizot raised himself by an industrious use of his literary talents to a high 
position in French literature, and in January, 1829, (he then being forty- 
one years of age,) he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies. 
Though he had held ofRce under Napoleon and the Bourbons, his devotion 
to constitutional monarchy was not doubted, and as the head of the Doctri- 
naire party, he in 1840 took the permanent direction of the Ministr5^ This 
was at first thought to be a great blessing for France, and the English 
imagined that the peace of Europe was identical with Guizot's tenure of 
office, but subsequent events showed that he was but another cat's paw of 
the King, one of the many political adventurers who lorded it at the Tuile- 
ries and then gave place to another, just as the sea casts a worthless weed 
upon the shore, sucks it back, and another succeeds. His conduct in the 
negotiation of the Spanish marriages was a deliberate tissue of falsehood, 
which lowered him in the estimation of every honest man at home and 
abroad, blasting a name whose moral dignity stood, if possible, higher than 
its possessor's intellectual power, until he served too well a power to which 
moral dignity was unknown. 



310 LAMARTINE. 

An English writer says of Guizot, that, placed in the position in which he 
was for seven }^ears,he had rarer opportunities of doing good, not merely to 
France, but to the world, than any man since the time of Canning ; but of 
these opportunities he did not avail himself, and history must hold him 
accountable for allowing great and glorious occasions to pass away, often 
imimproved, oftener still altogether unused. To please party, and to please 
a monarch, he dedicated abilities, powers of speech, expression, and action 
which might have been used more highly — osve may add, more honorably, 
in the service of his country — in the service of the whole human race. In 
administrative knowledge, and in the art of conciliating men and majorities, 
Guizot was far surpassed by very ordinary common-place men in his own 
cabinet. Though, therefore, the ex-Prime Minister of France is fully en- 
titled to the epithets of able, gifted, eloquent, and learned, still the historian 
must refuse to him the epithets of a great man or a great statesman. 



[Note O.] 
LAMARTINE. 

Alphoxse db Lamartine was born on the 2lst of October, 1792, at 
Macon, a town of some twelve thousand inhabitants, on the banks of the 
Soane, some hundred miles to the south-east of Paris. His father, who was 
a convert to the educational theories of Rousseau and Madame de Genlis, 
accustomed him to all kinds of physical hardships until his twelfth year, 
while his mother, whom he has described as " most tender and affectionate 
by nature," with " clear and silvery voice," taught him to read, when very 
young, from a pictorial Bible. " When I had read about half a page," he 
says, " with tolerable correctness, my mother allowed me to see a picture ; 
and placing the book upon her knees, she explained the subject to me, as a 
recompense for my progress." The Peres du Foi, who completed his edu- 
cation in their College at Belly, matured the religious germs implanted at 
home, and Lamartine's manner has always preserved a shade of the auster- 
ity of cloister life. Leaving, in 1809, he went to Lyons, and then spent 
two years in travel, with a wealthy friend, visiting Italy, Austria, and 
Prussia, and returning to Paris. There, by turns, he studied, frequented 
the green-rooms, roamed in the forest of Vincennes, and wrote verses, not 
over contented with his condition, and unable to satisfy his innate taste for 
luxury. 

His health becoming impaired, Lamartine returned to Italy in 1813, and 
while traversing that " land of song and sunny skies" became inspired, and 
commenced his Harmonies. The fall of Napoleon recalled him to France, 
where he entered the body-guard of Louis XVIII. and completed his work, 
but he found great difficulty in obtaining a publisher, for a small volume 
of poems by an unknown youth did not promise great profits. At last, one 
Nicolo, bolder than his brethren, consented to usher it into the world, 
though, as it was without name or preface, it would have suffered the fate 




ALPUONSE DE LAMARTINJE 



LAMARTINE. 311 

of an untimely birtli, had not Jules Janin accidentally seen it on a book- 
stall, bought and read it. " Never," says he, " shall I forget my delight as 
I perused this volume of a nameless poet. For what was my surprise and 
admiration, when suddenly my dazzled eyes and heart devoured this new 
world of poesy ! when at length they found combined in one book all the 
sentiments of the soul and all the passions of the heart; all the joys of 
earth and all the ecstacies of heaven ; all the hopes of the present and all 
the doubts which shadow the future." Janin wrote an elaborate review of 
the poems, and Lamartine, like Byron, whom in many respects he is said 
to resemble, " awoke one morning' and found himself famous." In four 
years forty-five thousand copies were sold, and the young poet at once look 
rank with the most distinguished of his European contemporaries. Grate- 
ful for Janin's fostering appreciation, Lamartine has always treated him 
with marked affection, and has in his turn introduced to notice Jean 
Rebougl, the baker of Nismes, now one of the most popular poets of 
France. 

The brilliant success of the Harmonies procured him the post of paid 
attache to the French Legation at Turin, where he engaged in a round of 
dissipated extravagance, which soon involved him deeply in debt. While 
at a ball one night, he heard a strange but melodious voice murmuring in 
his ear a quotation from his own poems : 

" Perchance the future may reserve for me 
A happiness v/hose hope I now resign ; 
Perchance amid the busy world may be 
Some soul unknown responsive still to mine !" 

The " hope" mentioned in the second line, was that of being united to 
Elvira, the object of his first love, who had been his inspiring theme ; and 
the soul "who thus indirectly declared its love," was that of Miss Birch, an 
English damsel, on rather the shady side of twenty-five, who had become 
passionately enamored of the poet. She was the possessor of a fortune 
large enough to atone for want of youth and beauty; so they were married 
at Naples, and returned to France to pass the honeymoon near Macon. It 
was there, says a Paris correspondent, that the conversion of Madame de 
Lamartine to Romanism was effected, by the simple eloquence of the 
village priest, whose church, as lady of the manor, she had thought it her 
bounden duty to attend on Sundays, in spiteof her difference of creed. Like 
all neophytes, her ardor soon surpassed that of her spiritual master, and 
she has ever since been remarkable for her religious enthusiasm, and her 
unceasing perseverance in pursuit of good and holy w^orks — among which 
her patronage of the religious orders has stood foremost. 

After having been Secretary of Legation at Naples and London, Larmar- 
tine returned to Turin as Charge d'Affaires, where he remained for some 
years, publishing Harmonies Poetiques, Socrates, and the " Last Canto 
of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," designed to complete the master-piece of 
Byron, whose memory he almost worships. Returning to France in 1829, 
he had just been named Minister to Greece, when the revolution of July 



312 LAMARTINE. 

overturned the Bourbon throne. Most of the diplomatists remained faith- 
ful lo their fallen master, but Lamartine chose the new path opened by the 
Revolution. " The past," said he, " is but a dream ; we may regret it, but 
we must not lose the day in weeping fruitlessly over it." He offered him- 
self as a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, to the electoral colleges 
of Toulon and Dunkirk, but was defeated in both places by large, majorities. 

In May, 1832, Lamartine started lo visit the Holy Land, the scene of 
the pictures in his mother's great Bible; and one must follow in his foot- 
steps, as I have done, to appreciate the journey, or his account of it, which 
is the pious outpouring of a philosophic mind over the old Oriental world, 
that first born of the sun, from whence sprang humanity, and whiiher it is 
to return. With that sumptuousness which is one of his characteristics, 
Lamartine sailed over the Mediterranean in his own ship, well armed, with 
a devoted crew, and wrote under an awning on the quarter deck. His 
journal, says Cormenin, is a varied m.osaic, confused but attractive, with 
moral reflections, with reliances looking backward at the past, with bab- 
blings of the present, with thoughts thrown towards the future; the whole 
intermingled with landscapes, the colors of which might have been envied 
by Claude Lorraine. The poet notes as he passes, the ship flies, the 
waves flow, and meanwhile valleys, mountains, m.onuments, men, sea and 
sky, all are seized and fixed, by the aid of a goose quill, and described with 
an inexpressible charm. The interest goes on increasing. The varied 
episodes of maritime and oriental life accumulate. Nothing is deficient in 
the drama — not even the catastrophe. For each time that the name or 
image of Julia comes under the pen of M. de Lamartine, they cause an 
oppression of the heart, and we sympathize with the passionate accents of 
a father, who broods with love over his beautiful child, and is pleased to 
paint her as " detached from amid all those harsh and masculine figures, 
her locks unbound and falling on her white robe, her beautiful rosy face, 
happy and gay, surmounted with a sailor's straw hat, tied under her chin, 
playing with the white cat of the captain, or with a nest of sea pigeons, 
woke up as they were sleeping on the carriage of a cannon, while she fur- 
nished crumbs of bread to their taste." 

Would that I had space to follow that nobly freighted ship, and describe 
the classic shores she passed, ere casting her anchor in the port of Athens ; 
the shrine where the three greatest poetic minds of the age have worshipped 
as pilgrims, and each left his imprint upon Minerva's shrine. Byron 
gazed upon " august Athena" with a feeling akin to worship, likening her 
to a white and perfect statue, reclining upon a tomb, and with his volume 
in hand, he can gaze upon her almost imperishable monuments, bask under 
her cloudless skies, or pour forth his love to her gazelle-eyed maidens, 
until he reverences her, bowed as she is in the dust. Chateaubriand 
also knelt before the deathless beauty of the city of Pericles, and exclaim- 
ed: " Athens ! oh Athens, the eternal city !" and tells how the " sun went 
down, amid clouds, which it colored with rose hues. It buried itself in the 
horizon, and twilight succeeded to it for half an hour. During the passage 
of the twilight, the sky was blue in the west, bluish in the zenith, and 



LAMARTINE. 313 

pearl-grey in the east." How beautiful ! — and yet this display of nature's 
loveliness on classic soil, did not touch the heart of the other equally famed 
one of the poetic trio. " Where," says Lamartine, " is Greece, that vaunted 
land? All there is dull and wearisome, as in a gorge of Savoy on an 
autumn day." He quietly entered in his journal : " April 22 — drank some 
water from the muddy and putrid stream of the Ilissus ;" while Chateau- 
briand tells us how he knelt upon the bank of that classic stream, and 
having quenched his thirst, uttered the Spartan prayer for " Virtue and 
Glory." 

Janin accounts for this indifference on the part of his friend, by saying 
that Lamartine cared not for Greece — as she was not the point to which 
his longing vision had turned. What to him was Thermopylae ? he pined 
for the hills of Lebanon. What the city of Athens ? he sought Jerusalem. 
Again we change the scene. The poet's bark doubles Cape Sunium, 
where Plato taught — he catches the meanings of the Cyclades — he threads 
the islands of the Archipelago — Rhodes smiles upon him, like a tuft of 
verdure in the bosom of the waves — Beyrout is reached, and Lamartine is 
reclining upon the odorous slopes of Carmel, in the finest vegetation on the 
earth, by the side of Lilla, " that beautiful daughter of Araby, whose long, 
fair locks, falling over her naked bosom, were braided on her head in a 
thousand tresses, which rested on her bare shoulders amid a confused 
minglement of flowers, of golden sequins , and of scattered pearls." There, 
too, he met Lady Hester Stanhope, whose sybil-like prophecy he thus re- 
cords : 

" No matter ; believe what you please, I see evidently that you are born 
under the influence of three fortunate, powerful and good stars ; that you 
are gifted with analogous powers, which conduct you to one aim ; which I 
could, if you were willing, point out to you at once. It is God who has 
conducted you hither to enlighten your soul ; you are one of those men of a 
good disposition, whom he requires as his instruments to accomplish the 
marvellous works which he will soon accomplish among mankind. Let 
your religious belief be what it may, you are not the less one of those men 
whom I expected, whom Providence has sent to me, and who has a great 
part to perform in the world that is preparing. In a short time you will 
return to Europe. The fate of Europe is decided. France alone has a 
great mission to accomplish — You will participate in it ; I do not 
yet know in what manner ; but if you be anxious to know, I will consult 
the stars to-night and tell it to you. I do not yet know the name of all ; I 
see now three, at present — four — perhaps five, and there may be more. 
One of them is certainly Mercury, which imparts clearness and color to the 
mind and tongue. You must be a poet ; it is legible in your eyes, and in 
the upper part of your countenance. Lower down, you are under the in- 
fluence of very different stars, almost in opposition ; there is an influence of 
energy and action." 

Leaving his wife and daughter at Beyrout, Lamartine set out upon his 
pilgrimage in a most ostentatious manner. His rich tent was stored with 
arms and luxuries, eighteen horsemen formed a body guard, the Sheiks 
came out of their villages to salute him, and the Arabs of the Desert bowed 
themselves as he passed. Janin tells us how in this array he traversed the 
plains of ancient Tyre, the city fallen beneath the immortal curses of Ezekiel 

27 



314 LAMARTINE. 

— visited the land of Canaan and of Judea — climbed the heights of Zebulon 
and of Nazareth — skirted the hill of Carmel — beheld the narrow and 
gloomy valley in which Christ was born — and finally paused on the banks 
of the river of the prophets and of the Gospel — on the banks of Jordan. 
The poet could not find a drop of water in the Ilissus, but the Christian 
bathed "in the sweet, warm, and blue waters of Jordan" — which may 
prove that imagination can not only draw the spring of living water from 
the rock, but dry up the river too. How comes it, otherwise, that, while 
Chateaubriand drinks delightedly at the same Greek river, in which Lamar- 
tine could find nothing better than a fetid ditch, — the latter, in his turn, 
plunges joyously into those " sweet, warm, and blue waters," which Cha- 
teaubriand describes in the following magnificent language of desolation 
and of death? " Through the midst of the valley, glides a discolored 
stream, dragging itself reluctantly towards the pestiferous lake which swal- 
lows it up. Its course through the sand is distinguished only by the reeds 
and willows that grow on its brink — that river is the Jordan." Now, 
look at the Jordan of Lamartine ! " It passes with a slight bubbling, and 
uttering its first murmur, under the ruined arches of a bridge of Roman 
architecture. The Jordan far surpasses the Eurotas and the Cephisus. It 
flows gently, in a bed of about one hundred feet wide, a stream of water two 
or three feet deep, clear, limpid, transparent, reflecting every pebble on its 
banks, like a mirror that colors what it shows. I took of the water of the 
Jordan, in the hollow of my hand, and found it quite sweet, of a pleasant 
flavor, and of great purity." I, who have bathed in the Jordan, and drank 
its water, found it slightly discolored and warm, agreeable to the taste but 
not pure, flowing with a slow current through a shrunken channel bordered 
with reeds and willows. Each of the poets was correct, having described 
the sacred stream as he saw it, through his poetically distorted imagina- 
tion. 

Returning to Beyrout, he sufiered a severe affliction in the loss of his 
beloved Julia, 

" Sole daughter of his house and heart," 

and we learn how keenly his heart was wounded, from an entry made in 
his journal, after leaving the house in which Julia had embraced him for 
the last time — " I kissed the floor of her chamber a thousand limes, and 
steeped it with my tears, for it is to me a sainted relic. I still beheld her 
in every part of it." 

One would not suppose that so poetic a spirit would wish to mingle in 
politics ; but Larmartine's ambition is boundless, and in January, 1846, he 
made his first speech in the Chamber of Deputies. He here endeavored to 
stand independent of party, and occasionally made long speeches in favor of 
a new European system of regeneration for the Holy Land, foundlings, -and 
other strange topics, which he handled with a poetic license. The Fourier- 
ites seeing this, seized upon him, as they have upon many other master 
(though ill-balanced) minds, and persuaded him that he was the champion 
of the abolition of capital punishment, to procure which he established a 



LAMARTINE. 815 

newspaper at Macon, called "Z/e Bien Public." His life during the intervals 
of the session, as passed at his fine old chateau of Saint Point, near Macon, 
is thus described in one of his letters to Monsieur Bruys d'Ouilly. 

" With the twilight of dawn, the steeple of the village tolls the angelus : 
in the rocky paths which lead to the church, or the casile, we hear the noise 
of the wooden shoes of the peasants, the bleating of flocks, the barking of 
the shepherds' dogs, and the rough jolting of cartwheels over the ground 
frozen by the night. The stir and bustle of day commence around me, 
they seize and carry me along until night. The workmen ascend my 
wooden staircase, and ask me for directions for the day's work. The Cure 
comes and solicits aid for the sick, or for his schools. The Mayor comes 
and begs me to explain to him the confused passages of a new law, relating 
to the neighboring roads — a law which I have made, but do not compre- 
hend any better than he. Neighbors come and request me to go with 
them to determine a boundary, or follow a road. My vine-dressers come 
and assure me that the harvest has failed, and that nothing remains to them 
but one or two sacks of coarse rye, to nourish their wives and five children 
during a long winter. The courier arrives, loaded with journals and letters, 
which shower, like a rain of words, upon my table, words, sometimes 
sweet, sometimes bitter, very often indifierent, but which all require a word, 
a thought, a line. 

" The guests, if I have any, awake and wander about the house ; others 
arrive, and fasten their tired horses to the iron bars of the lower windows. 
These are farmers from the mountains, in black velvet waistcoats, and 
leather spatterdashes; mayors from neighboring villages; good old cures, 
with their crown of while locks bathed in perspiration; poor widows of 
neighboring hamlets, who would be thankful for a post or stamp — who 
believe in the unbounded power of a man of whom the journal of the chief 
town of the district has spoken — and who keep back timidly under the 
great linden trees of the avenue, with one or two poor children by the hand. 
Each one has his anxiety., his dream, his business. I must hear them, 
press the hand of one, write a note to the other, give some hope to all. All 
this is done in a hurry, on the corner of the table, loaded with verses, prose 
writings, and letters, a portion of the sweet smelling rye bread of our moun- 
tains flavored with fresh butter, with fruit from the garden, and grapes from 
the vine. Frugal breakfast of the poet and the laborer, the crumbs of which 
the birds are awaiting upon my balcony. The hour of noon strikes. I hear 
my favorite horses neighing and stamping their feet on the sand of the 
court yard, as if to call me. I say good morning and farewell to the guests 
of the mansion, who remain until night. I mount my horse, and set off" at 
a gallop, leaving behind me all the cares of the morning, to go to other 
cares of the day. I busy myself in the rough and descending paths of our 
village ; I ascend, and descend, to again ascend our mountains. I fasten 
my horse under many trees, I knock at many doors. Here and there, I find 
a thousand things to be done, for myself or for others. I do not return 
home until night, after having enjoyed, during six or seven hours of solitary 
riding, all the rays of the sun, all the varied tints of the fading foliage, all 
the odors, all the sounds, gay or sad, of our great landscapes in the autum- 
nal days. Happy if, when I return, worn out with fatigue, I find perchance, 
at the corner of the fire, some friend, arrived in my absence, with a simple 
heart, and a poetic tongue, who on the road to Italy or Switzerland, has re- 
membered that my roof is near his route, and who, like Hugo, Nodier, 
Quinet, Sue, or Manzoni, comes to bring us a distant echo of the noise of the 
world, and taste, with freedom, a little of our peace." 

When Lamartine was employed to write the History of the Girondins, 
Clio was dethroned from her historiographic shrine, and Improvisation, 
the tenth Muse of the day, seated in her place by the poet-historian; who 



316 . LAMARTINE. 

sought to raise matter-of-fact prose to the dignity of epic poetry, by ar- 
ranging his subject in the most dramatic form, and clothing it in the most 
beautiful language he could draw from his mind and heart. Portraying 
horrid scenes en couleur de rose, as one sees a landscape through a pane of 
bright crimson-stained glass, animated by the fervid feeling and buoyant 
fancy of a true poet, he so identified himself with his subject, that, like 
Livy, in his history of Rome, he overlooked all the faults of his heroes, 
and raised them from their frail natures to a godlike attitude, congenial to 
the sublimity of his genius. 

This work had an immense sale, and revived in the hearts of the Paris- 
ians the thrilling scenes of the first Revolution, so f .11 of excitement, that 
grand desideratum in la grande ville. The ex-royalist, who, for years, had 
been wheeling over the political arena in a series of undefinable circles, 
after the manner of a hawk, now became identified with the Opposition, 
and in the Chamber of Deputies pronounced the doom of the infant Count 
de Paris. For a time his star was in the ascendant, but he unfortunately 
3aelded to the advice of theory -mongers, who would thresh to the very 
chaff" the elements of society and human nature. Fraternization has ended 
in bloodshed, and it may be said of Paris as of Egypt, when the first-born 
were smitten, " there was not a house in which there was not one dead." 

" To love — to pray — to sing," wrote Lamartine, " such is my life," and 
in so doing he commanded the respect and admiration of Christendom. 
But when he descended from cloud-land into real life, it is to be feared 
that the history which will bear his actions will reflect little real credit 
upon him who might have been (had he followed the dictates of common 
sense, in place of wild theory,) the Washington of France. The acts of 
the Provisional Government, when made public, will be found more censur- 
able than those of Napoleon, the Bourbons, or even Louis Philippe. 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE OF LAMARTINE. 




LRBMr^ 



W 109 89 





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HECKMAN 

JINDERY INC. 

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